The Harbinger: Issue 2 2010-2011

Harbinger the

ISSUE 2 SHAWNEE MISSION EAST PRAIRIE VILLIAGE, KS SEPT. 20, 2010

The Unknown Face of Cyberspace Anonymous Facebook and Twitter accounts are just the latest form of cyberbullying at East AndrewGoble

His classmates guess and guess, but senior Carl Wilson* always knew they were wrong. Whenever a conversation among friends or other students would turn to the identity of SMEGossipGurlz, an anonymous Twitter account that posts East “gossip,” senior Carl Wilson guessed with the masses, developing theories about whom the culprit could be.

Wilson, the co-creator of SMEGossipGurlz, loved to “feed the fire.”

“It was so funny because I would just tell people it was this person or that person, and they would totally buy into it,” said Wilson. “I would just laugh silently inside.”

In addition to SMEGossipGurlz, East students are finding plenty of ways to write about other students anonymously through other fictional Facebook and Twitter accounts. This anonymous cyberbullying is a recent variation of other types of “cyberbullying” that have become been reported more and more by students and parents, according to associate principal Heather Royce.

Read about this year’s 17 senior varsity soccer players.

Of 87 students grades 9-11 at East surveyed during seminar, 35.9 percent said they had been bullied online before; 34.7 percent of that group said they had been bullied online five times or more.

Wilson started his account with a friend last fall. It posts “gossip” such as rumored mishaps and potential parties; as of press time, it had posted 40 times and had 303 followers.

When they started last fall, their goal was to just make people laugh.

“We thought it would be funny if no one knew who was writing it, just ridiculous events were reported on, in kind of a laughable manner,” said Wilson. “Yeah, [getting tweeted about would] be embarrassing, but it’s supposed to be like, ‘Yeah, my antics were reported on.’”

Not everyone feels it is harmless. Sophomore Julie Sanders* was devastated when she was mentioned on a post on SMEGossipGurlz.

“I just remember not wanting to go to school,” Sanders said. “It was like the first week of freshman year, so I didn’t

SamanthaBartow

know anyone, and I called [friend’s name omitted to protect identity] crying, ‘What am I going to do?’ You feel like everyone is staring at you...you feel like the whole school is talking about you.”

Anonymous online accounts are only the newest form of cyberbullying, according to Dr. Sameer Hinduja, Co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. Dr. Hinduja has studied cyberbullying--which he defines formally as “willful and repeated harm inflicted through the use of computers and cell phones and electronic devices”--for around 10 years and has seen thousands of examples submitted by students.

Along with Co-Director Dr. Justin Patchin, Dr. Hinduja has identified that cyberbullying is tied to loss of self-esteem in the victim, and that victims of cyberbullying are more likely “to have suicidal thoughts and engage in suicidal actions” than those who have not been. He generally describes cyberbullying as kids “being jerks to each other using technology.”

Senior Gail Stonebarger shares her passion of photography with teenagers in Argentine, KS.

pg. 29 pg. 09 When they were all freshmen, I was thinking to myself, ‘Holy cow, this could be my varsity one day.’”

Continued on page 2 * Name changed to protect identity

Inside are more photos of this year’s volleyball team.

pg. 21 Soccer coach Jamie Kelly

NEWS 02 09-20-10

A look at East’s growing trend of continued from page 1

“[When you’re an adolescent] you care so much about peer perception, so what everyone else is saying about you and thinking about you, even if honestly they’re not,” Dr. Hinduja said. “So when there’s gossip or rumor-spreading or name-calling or insults or being portrayed in a negative light on Facebook or in a YouTube comment or something like that, it just takes over your world and it really wrecks you.”

Dr. Hinduja, co-author of “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying,” thinks that East’s cyberbullying issue is actually pretty standard for a high school. Often, he says, even when not anonymous, confrontations start small, such as a comment on another student’s picture or “wall”--a feature on Facebook where you can publicly display a comment on someone else’s account--and then escalate.

“It just goes back and forth, and then people take sides,” Dr. Hinduja said, “and then you have this slew of 49 comments and everyone is just going off on everyone else because of their taking sides. It’s just all sorts of drama which is completely unnecessary.”

Junior Reid Frye has been a part of three fictional Facebook accounts, beginning in the fall of last year. The accounts were created to look as if they were students in the area. Four or five of his friends usually would all take control, posting on real students’ walls and pictures.

Frye said that the appeal was being able to say things anonymously, not to 100011 bully others. According to Frye, the Facebook accounts poked fun at ideas and groups, not individuals. He usually commented on friends’ walls 11100000 or pictures. Sometimes, he would also comment on the walls or 1000011000 pictures of “people who would probably beat you up if you 000011100010 00001000111000 said the stuff that you said to them [online] to their face.”

“It’s not like the idea of heckling people,” Frye said. “It’s 11100001000 01 just the idea of being able to say stuff that you wouldn’t 11100111001000 say normally, just on someone else’s name.”

11010010111110000 However, should a student feel like they are 001110000111000100 “cyberbullied,” the Shawnee Mission School 010000010001100000 District already has rules in place for adminis1010000010001110000 trators to handle it. Grouped with traditional 0 01010100000100011 in-person bullying, cyberbullying is defined by the district as “bullying by use of any electronic 1000111000011000 01 communication device by means including, but 0111000100101110001 not limited to, e-mail, instant message, text mes0011100000111000011 sage, blog, cell phone, pager, online games or 0 0101000001000111 websites.”

The District Guidelines give the administra000111000011000 01 0010010111000111000 tors a range of actions to take. They say that a 100001110001001011 first offence could range from a conference with student or parent to a short-term suspen100011100000111000 sion. Repeated offences could result in an in100010101000001000 school or out-of-school suspension, depending 111000111000011000 on the severity.

000011100010010111 The trouble, according to Royce, is catching 001000111000001001 students. Although she has seen an increase in reports of cyberbullying, it is difficult to 010101000001000 prove that it happened “while utilizing school 11100011100001100 property, on school property, in any vehicle used 11100001100010010 to transport students for district purposes or at a 0000010001110000 school-sponsored activity or event,” as the district 000011000 0101 policy states. She guesses that 90 percent of it happens 1110001001011 from home.

“We are always happy to investigate, talk to kids, call par0001000111000 111000011000 ents, just to let other parents be aware, but in terms of suspend000011100010 ing a student from Shawnee Mission East because of something 101000001000 he did Sunday afternoon in the privacy of his own home,” Royce said, “the courts don’t look very favorably on that.”

000111000011 Royce said the problem often stops after an administrator 001110000111 communicates with the bullying student or his parents. How0101010000 ever, she also notes that the administrative staff has included 010111000111 the School Resource Officers and filed police reports in the past.

111000001110 The SROs have already dealt with a cyberbullying issue this 011000 0101 year, and will often weigh in on the legal process if needed. If 0100101110001 a case gets severe enough, according to Royce, the administration may be able to intercede even if it did not happen during 0011100000111 school hours.

001100 010101 “The legal interpretation gets a little gray, but even if 100010010111000 the posting or the tweeting or whatever happened 00011100000111000 outside of school, if it truly caused a substantial disruption, that’s kind of the 10010101000001000111 litmus test for when schools can 00011100001100000100101

infringe a little on First Amendment rights,” Royce said. “If students were in such an uproar that it was interrupting class time and students were fighting in the halls, I think we would have a case that it was causing a substantial disruption and take action.”

Royce also suggests ignoring any potential cyberbully unless the comment is truly trying to intimidate, bully or threaten someone else. She especially sees ninth and tenth graders as “incapable of not responding.”

“So many of these things start off as just a snotty comment, and that person responds, and the ante gets raised and raised and raised until it becomes really heinous and vile,” Royce said.

“If you know the first time somebody sent somebody a message or a text or a post or whatever, if that person deleted it and unfriended that person...I think a lot of it would go away.”

Even without administrator intervention, the anonymous accounts usually fizzle out. Frye says most of his accounts end once people start to figure out who it is. Wilson let a few people know that SMEGossipGurlz was his this summer; now, he guesses half the school knows it’s him. He even took down one of his posts after a student threatened to have their parents sue him for slander.

“I think it can be interpreted as cyberbullying, but I didn’t set out to hurt someone intentionally or like really, really mess with their head,” Wilson said. “It was more just like for the comedy.

If someone did something similar to me, I wouldn’t be that upset--I’d just get a laugh out of it.”

To help end cyberbullying, Dr. Hinduja is working to change the perceptions of it among high school students. It helps, he says, that people who cyberbullied around a decade ago are now seeing the future ramifications.

“We’re seeing more and more often that kids are kinda getting screwed in the future based on their digital reputations,” Dr. Hinduja said. “You’ve gotta be really careful, because you don’t want to come across as a cyberbully and then have that always kind of attached to your name as you move forward, because people are going to Google you and people are going to find you online and it’s really going to affect how people judge you and the opportunities that they give you.”

He also is working to change “prevailing mentalities” that promote cyberbullying.

“Maybe a lot of people...[say] ‘bullying, it’s a rite of passage, you just gotta go through it in order to grow up—it’s just part of learning about life,’” Dr. Hinduja said. “The truth of the matter is that’s crap, people should not be jerks to other people and other people don’t have to just receive it as part of a normal way of growing up.”

Dr. Hinduja hopes to find a creative way to get everyone on board against cyberbullying. Creating an atmobased on a student survey sphere where bullying is perceived as “not cool” is an important next step that he hopes to take. If the right students jump in the effort, he thinks an anti-cyberbully know someone movement could rise up. who has been “We just need a core group of kids to re- bullied anonymously ally, really become passionate about the topic and see how it is affecting kids,” Dr. Hinduja know someone said. “And then, hopefully, that will enlist ev- who has been erybody else’s help and get them all on board bullied online as well.”

The future of cyberbullying may involve more pictures or videos, according to Dr. Hinduja, or even live broadcasts. As phones get more powerful and have more capabilities, he thinks it may be easier for the average person to gather footage where privacy is expected. In the end he hopes that, much like some social networking websites become unpopular over time, that cyberbullying will come to an end.

“I wish people would just take a step away from it and realize that is so juvenile and kind of lame, to be honest,” Dr. Hinduja said.

“You’ve gotta have something better to do in your life than to just stir up more drama and be drawn to the drama and forward it around and talk about it.”

Cyber Bullying at east

*

47%

60%

have been bullied online

26%

where it happens

6%

14%

14%

18%

other

48%

NEWS

News Briefs

issue 2

03

Taking a peek at East’s upcoming events

5

25

theFRESHMAN Brooks Kendall

Q

Football player raises a fist before breaking from the huddle.

SPIRIT WEEK October 11

NIOR

theSENIOR Jake Mccoy

Best place to get spirit week wear? Any theme ideas?

Q

Hanna Jane Stradinger

Q

Homecoming idea?

Random places be tough A I think a sports AjustIt’llbecause I think it would A around your house A we’ve jersey day would be really cool to and random thrift-

never done it before. stores.

the week in photos GrantHeinlein

look ahead:

theJU

Mary Grace Diehl

Q

How will the freshman do?

Wed. September 29 Thurs. September 30 Fir. October 1 Sat. October 2

raises awareness and funds about dolphins being killed in Japan. Lemon Aid for Sierra Leone will be made up of community events that raise money for schools in Sierra Leone.

SHARE Executive Sam Nelson is proud of the students taking the initiative to start new projects and hopes the new projects will encourage people to get involved.

“SHARE is a great place for you to make any project you’re interested in happen by starting it up or joining it . It’s really great for the community and the school,” Nelson said.

ing forward to his first taste of the fight.

ORE theSOPHOM

This year SHARE members will be on call to solve problems for charities in the community. Through, Lancer Emergency Response Team (LERT) one of three new projects, organizations will be able to contact SHARE at any time throughout the year when they need assistance and SHARE will gather volunteers to help at a moment’s notice.

This year 76 projects are being sponsored by SHARE. The other three new projects are Try to Walk a Mile Her Shoes, To the Rescue and Lemon Aid for Sierra Leone. Try to Walk a Mile in Her Shoes is a run in which boys wear high heels to raises awareness of sexual abuse and rape. To the Rescue

to join Debate because his friends would always talk about it and he wanted to understand what all the hype was about. Once he joined Novikov realized that it wasn’t just a fun class, it was engaging too.

“It’s an interesting class to be in,” Novikov said. “It’s not just straight up arguing and you’re not just arguing for your personal beliefs. It’s about using the set rules and being able to take all the sides and understand them. And I love to argue.”

Novikov plans on attending the tournament and is look-

Mon. September 27 Tues. September 28

FAIR DEBATE tournament

Sun. September 26

SHARE

21

On Saturday Sept. 25East first-year or novice debaters will fight their first battles. But for their first tournament they won’t go up against other area debaters, they’ll be arguing with each other.

Throughout the semester, novices are required to attend two tournaments and the East Tournament is their first opportunity.

Sophomore and novice debater Ivan Novikov decided

Wed. September 22 Thurs. September 23 Fri. September 24

Mon. September 20

AnnieSgroi

EdenSchoofs

Wide receiver Grant Ellis walks towards the bench after scoring a touchdown.

LindseyHartnett

Seniors yell and show their school spirit in the Lancer day parade.

be cool.

GrantHeinlein

Sitting on top of another student’s shoulders, senior Cormac O’Connor cheers.

do a futuristic theme!

DanStewart

The boys’ soccer team cheers while they walk away from an Olathe East player.

NEWS 04 09-20-10

BEST FOOT FORWARD

all photos by RileyMeurer

Q&A

New SHARE fundraiser, Try a Mile in Her Shoes, will raise awareness about sexual violence

with SHARE Chair Morgan Satterlee

SarahMcKittrick Instead of hearing blasts of warm up music floating through the air and watching the pregame show of cheerleaders yelling “Go Big Blue,” spectators at the soccer game on Oct. 12 will be treated to another unconventional form of entertainment. As sweaty soccer players exit the field and make their way to the locker room, fans will have something else to cheer about even as the field empties: boys running across the track in high heels.

While soccer players take off their cleats, other East students will be strapping on high heels to raise awareness for sexual abuse and rape. Try to Walk in Her Shoes, a SHARE project started by juniors Morgan Satterlee and Lilli Stalder, will feature relays in which boys will run across the track in high heels between the JV and varsity soccer games.

“Like the project’s name says, the boys will physically be walking in girls’ shoes,” Satterlee said. “But by doing this, the boys are also helping prevent the problem of sexual abuse and raise awareness.”

After hearing about other area high schools like SM South having similar races, Satterlee and Stalder decided to bring the project to East. Many schools have based their races off of “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” a national project started in 2001 by Frank Baird to raise awareness about sexual abuse. The project features men of all ages walking in high heels with proceeds and donations going to various rape crisis centers.

One unique aspect of Try to Walk in Her Shoes is that the project works to raise awareness about a cause for a broader group of people instead of supporting a disease or single person like several other SHARE projects. Sat-

terlee hopes that this support of an unusual cause, combined with the added twist of boys running in high heels, will make the new project a success. These unique aspects of the run have made both the girls and SHARE’s advisers excited about the new project.

Leslie Multer, one of SHARE’s advisers, said that SHARE welcomed Try to Walk in Her Shoes because it brings attention to the sometimes overlooked problem of sexual abuse.

Multer hopes that the funny premise will cause some laughs, while simultaneously raising awareness.

“I think that the whole idea is fun and crazy,” Multer said. “But it also brings the point home that the guys don’t have the same vulnerability as girls do.”

Satterlee and Stalder plan on having relay races made up of 15-20 boys run across the track in high heels. In order to enter, the boys are asked to make two dollar donations. While the boys run, the project’s volunteers will perform various tasks ranging from timing the relay, to helping the boys put on their shoes and pumping up the crowd for the race.

Even though the project’s overall message is to raise awareness for sexual abuse and rape, Try to Walk in Her Shoes stresses the boys’ role in ending abuse. Although Satterlee said that the run will obviously condone sexual abuse, the project will place more of an emphasis on how boys can help solve the problem of abuse and become a part of the solution. With the run, Satterlee hopes to teach boys to support girls who have struggled with abuse in past relationships and to treat girls with respect.

“Most of the time, the guys are seen as the problem in sexual abuse,” Satterlee said. “This

run can show people that boys care and want to help. Seeing this can give girls strength.”

Satterlee also thinks that watching boys participate in the project will help girls feel more comfortable discussing the problem and be aware of the situation. Satterlee and Stalder hope that seeing boys support the cause will help more girls realize that there are boys who will treat them with kindness and respect.

“This will hopefully make girls feel safer to know that guys are behind them and that there are good guys out there,” Satterlee said. “Girls will understand that they aren’t alone.”

Even though the run is not scheduled to occur until Oct. 12, the girls have been busy planning and organizing the run. The girls plan on putting posters up around school, making announcements about the race, and are hanging high heeled shoes from the main stairwell to raise awareness and stir interest. The girls have also been talking to boys around school to gage interest. Despite some weary feelings from some, Satterlee said that most boys they have talked to are excited about the race.

“A couple of guys seem embarrassed by the idea of wearing high heels, but others are looking forward to it and see the competitive side of the run,” Satterlee said.

Working on this project has also taught Satterlee important lessons about safety and made her more anxious to help spread awareness.

“This project has showed me that most people don’t understand the full effect of sexual abuse,” Satterlee said. “Even though we don’t hear too many stories about it at East, this project helps put it out there that sexual abuse is a problem that people face.”

Q: A: Q: A:

REDUCE YOUR RISK: Practical self-defense tips aware of your surroundings.

2 1 BeKnowing where you are and who is around you may help you find a way to get out of a bad situation.

Walk with a purpose.

Even if you don’t know where you are going, act like you do.

3

Avoid putting music headphones in both ears so that you can be more aware of your surroundings, especially if you are walking alone.

Why do you think it’s important for girls to see guys participating in an event like this?

This will show girls that the boys support them.

Usually it’s the guys that are the problem so this shows that boys care and want to help.

Why do you think it’s important that guys are aware of these problems as well?

Most of the time, guys don’t want to talk about the subject because it might be awkward. This will help the girls feel more secure that the guys realize sexual abuse is a problem.

Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network

4

Try not to load yourself down with packages or bags as this can make you appear more vulnerable.

NEWS issue 2

05

Best of

Broadway

Revival of Musical Revue provides students with leadership roles ZoeBrian The once-spacious choir room is packed with bodies, some sitting in chairs, most sitting on other people’s laps rather than the floor. One group stands around the baby grand piano as theatre teacher and director Brian Cappello and choir teacher, musical director and choreographer Ken Foley straighten out a few last minute details before the meeting begins. The clamor of voices creates an almost monotonous sound of white noise as students gush over their solos and duets. Foley lets out a steam-engine whistle and the choir room is silenced.

As Foley takes in the crowd — a diverse mixture of theatre kids, choir kids, freshmen, seniors and everyone in between — he smiles at all the questioning faces, each here with one common goal: creating a musical showcase in less than one month.

Two years ago when East did the “50 Years of East” showcase, due to ongoing construction in the auditorium, the resounding praise and success of the show both surprised and pleased Foley and Cappello. With so many students and so few parts in this year’s musical “Beauty and the Beast”, Foley and Cappello were more than happy to add the two and a half hour show to this year’s lineup. The showcase will be performed Sept. 30, Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, less than one month after the first meeting. But unlike the “50 Years” showcase, this musical revue is almost completely run by the students. Less than ten organized rehearsals will take place during the month-long rehearsal period, meaning that students must schedule time with Foley, Cappello or their own groups on their own time. Even though this may seem like a daunting task to some, Foley and Cappello knew the benefits outweighed the risks.

“We’ve been told so often that we should do it every year,” Foley said. “The fact that we have so many talented

kids and so few chances to highlight them really made us lean towards the revue. The show is all about the kids.”

Cappello and Foley chose the theme of the show, “Best of Broadway,” to give the revue a wide range of options.

When it came time to choose songs, Cappello and Foley each selected 30 favorites and then combined and edited the list to create the 30 number set list they have now. The show features classics from musicals like Les Miserables to newer show-stopping hits from Wicked and includes duets, solos and entire ensemble numbers.

With Cappello covering the theatrical aspects of the show and Foley covering the music, the two are hoping to have as successful a show as two years prior.

“I want the audience to get goosebumps,” student director Maggie Niven said.

Co-student director Olivia Mansfield and Niven attend every rehearsal and are available to help the cast at all times. Niven has made it her personal mission to get the cast to delve deeper into their characters as well as their song.

“If we can transport the audience to each show for only a few moments then we’ve done our job,” Niven said. “The cast kind of thinks of me and Cappello as the “bad cops” because we push them to do better, but we only do it because we know this show can be truly great.”

Niven and Mansfield are also in charge of helping students with costumes, organizing rehearsals and cast attendance, which includes the job of cutting students who miss two or more rehearsals.

“It’s give and take,” Niven said. “Students can miss a rehearsal and we are okay with that, but they need to be dedicated to this.”

Niven says very few people have been cut, but she has lost as many as nine cast members due to conflicts on

Spotlight

cast members share hopes for future musical revues “I would enjoy doing something more modern. Billy Joel songs are my favorite.”

-chorus member Ryan Dugan “Rent is my favorite musical. I’d love if we could do that because it hasn’t been done before at East.”

-chorus member AJ Orth

1

3

2

4

on

show nights.

“A couple people have quit because of the Vampire Weekend concert or rehearsals for other shows,” Niven said.

While some students find the production to be less important than concerts, others are dedicated to making this three-performance show a success.

“There is so much talent in the show,” sophomore Madison May said.“We are all very excited because we know the show is going to be great.”

If all goes as planned, Foley and Cappello hope to make the musical revue an annual event.

the

cast “Something sort of like Best of Broadway. I’m new to this all, so smaller musicals suit me.”

-chorus member Emily Donovan “I think it would be great to do Hits from Misses. It’s a combination of good songs from bad musicals.”-chorus member Maggie Niven

Above, Foley teaches the cast members of the Musical Revue the dance moves to “Time Warp” all photos by TomiCaldwell

For additional coverage on the musical revue see www.smeharbinger.net

SOAPLESS AND SICKLY

06 EDITORIAL 09-20-10

The empty and broken soap dispensers in the boys bathrooms are cause for health concern

Harbinger the

a publication of shawnee mission east high school 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Assistant Photo Editor Eden Schoofs Freelance Page Editors Christa McKittrick Copy Editors Evan Nichols Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Kevin Simpson Kat Buchanan Jack Howland Morgan Christian Anne Willman Logan Heley Bob Martin Matt Gannon Chris Heady Staff Writers Grant Kendall Alex Lamb Chris Heady Julia Davis Zoe Brian Caroline Creidenberg Paige Hess

Sept. 20, 2010 issue 2, vol. 52

From a young age, children are taught to restrooms was a start, it was no where near wash their hands after using the restroom. what should have been done. Many students This is a principle of good hygiene, and a weren’t even aware of this as it wasn’t menmedically proven way to prevent the spread tioned other than word of mouth. of germs and disease.

If this matter would have been handled For the first four weeks of the 2010- properly, there would not have been a single 2011 school year, East’s male population student that was indirectly forced to go withwas deprived of this basic health precau- out clean hands. Some sort of disposable tion, as nearly all the school’s third through soap should have been readily available in fifth floor bathrooms were without working every single restroom throughout the entire soap dispensers. With very few alternatives school. From the moment the broken disprovided for students to sanitize their hands, pensers were discovered, these bottles should many were forced to outright skip the task on been immediately put in place. some of the highest populated floors in the To think that a student may have even school. had to go to another floor in search of a place According to Head Custodian Mike Webb, where they can wash their hands is a totally the problem stemmed from a majority of the unnecessary inconvenience. It’s disappointold dispensers being mysteriously broken or ing to see a school that normally takes so missing since the summer . While the new much effort in keeping the student body hapdispensers were on back order from the dis- py and comfortable could have completely trict warehouse, East had been waiting since disregarded this basic need. the start of the school year to get the restAccording to Mike Webb, the administrarooms back in shape. During that period, stu- tion urged the janitorial staff to get new disdents were not offered any disposable soap pensers in the bathrooms as soon as possible, bottles or even hand sanitizer in the rest- a notion that Associate Principal Steve Loe rooms except for in the two facilities located confirms, but never was the custodial staff near the cafeteria. asked to put disposable bottles in the restNo matter what rooms.

The majority opinion of the angle you look at this Thankfully, the new disfrom, the fact that the Harbinger Editorial Board pensers were shipped on for against absent Friday, Sept. 10, and should restrooms went this long without soap all be in place by the time is not only disgustthis article is published. That ing, but a health risk doesn’t change what has, or to the entire student rather has not, been done. The body. According to the administration had ample opCenter for Disease Control and Prevention, portunity to take a stand and do something washing hands with soap and water could for the students, but instead nothing was reduce diarrheal disease-associated deaths by done, and while we all look back on it now, up to 50 percent, thus making it one of the this shouldn’t be brushed aside. The students simplest and most crucial parts of daily hy- deserve better. giene. While the situation at East obviously isn’t this drastic, it demonstrates just how important hand washing is. It is absolutely Letters to the editor should be sent to inexcusable that for nearly four weeks, the room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com. administration failed to provide any sort of Letters may be edited for clarity, length, alternative for students to clean their hands. libel and mechanics and accepted or reWhile putting bottles of soap in a few choice

1200

jected at the editor’s discretion.

Editorial Board Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Corbin Barnds Logan Heley Kevin Simpson Jennifer Rorie Jack Howland Evan Nichols Kat Buchanan Bob Martin Morgan Christian Photographers Katie East Grant Kendall Anna Marken Sammi Kelley Samantha Bartow Claire Wahrer Tomi Caldwell Grace Snyder Riley Meurer Marissa Horwitz Kaitlyn Stewart

Ads/Circulation Manager Jennifer Rorie Staff Artist Alex Goldman Online Editors Logan Heley Pat McGannon Online Assistant Editor Maggie Simmons Online Copy Editors Kennedy Burgess Lilly Myers Online Photo Editor Lindsey Hartnett Multimedia Editor Maggie Simmons Convergence Editor Bob Martin Homegrown Editor Nathan Walker Podcast/Blog Editor Jeff Cole Video Editor Alex Lamb Videographers

Thomas Allen Nathan Walker Andrew Simpson Live Broadcast Editor Jeff Cole Live Broadcast Producers Thomas Allen Tom Lynch Anchors Andrew Simpson Jeff Cole Chloe Stradinger Corbin Barnds Kevin Simpson Nathan Walker Paige Hess PR Representative Chloe Stradinger Online Staff Writers Andrew Simpson Online Photographer Nathan Simpson Adviser Dow Tate

Editors-In-Chief Spread Editors Andrew Goble Lilly Myers Annie Sgroi Toni Aguiar Assistant Editors Features Editor Kat Buchanan Sarah McKittrick Evan Nichols Features Page Editors Head Copy Editor Chloe Stradinger Kevin Simpson Haley Martin Art and Design Editor Alysabeth Albano Emma Pennington A&E Editor News Editor Aubrey Leiter Jack Howland A&E Page Editors News Page Editors Kennedy Burgess Morgan Christian Tom Lynch Editorial Editor Sports Editor Katy Westhoff Corbin Barnds Opinion Editor Sports Page Editors Raina Weinberg Matt Gannon Opinion Page Editors Freelance Page Editors Ian Wiseman Christa McKittrick Emily Kerr Photo Editors Mixed Editor Grant Heinlein Anne Willman Dan Stewart The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission School District, East faculty or school administration.

OPINION issue 2

07

Meet the Family

KatieEast

Junior views the High Drive community as much more than a neighborhood

I can sum up my whole childhood in two words: the block.

In the 12 years I have lived in my house, the block has become more than a group of neighbors an opinion of Emily Kerr that share the same nine letter street name as me. These people have become my family. They have become the people that welcome me with open doors, open arms and occasionally open refrigerators. It is through them that I have learned what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Three years ago was the first time I realized the impact of that statement.

Sobbing on my bedroom floor, I half haphazardly dialed the numbers that had been ingrained in my head since I was six. Caroline picks up and I tell her I’m coming over.

“Peeks, I’ve really messed up this time.”

“Oh Em, what have you gotten in to this time?,” she asks casually.

I wipe my tears and step outside. Ten steps later and I am on her driveway typing in her garage code without thinking.

I run upstairs to her yellow European style bedroom and collapse on her floor and begin to explain to her my predicament.

I had just recently gotten in an argument with my mom and was convinced I was going to have to move out of my house.

For good.

Before I can finish my story, Caroline is rolling on the ground laughing.

“You really believe you are going to have to move out?” she said. “Just because of one fight? It’s not like you are going to be

The Highlights

of

High Drive

A look at the lighter, funnier side of Emily’s neighborhood

Mini Marines

When my brothers were younger, they were friends with a boy down the street. One summer, they started an army called the Mini Marines.

Every day they would report to “duty” where they waged serious war with their airsoft guns and dug a massive hole in his backyard. By the end of the summer the hole was ten feet deep. The mom realized that this had to be solved and the marines labored the rest of the summer filling it.

put up for adoption. You’re being a drama queen again.”

She reaches over and hugs me and I stop my hysterics for a second to consider what she had just said. I had done plenty of wrong things before and my mom had still loved me. What made this one different? Before I can continue to be upset, I reach over to punch her for calling me a drama queen. She knows I hate that.

Within a few moments Caroline, with her easygoing charm, had completely calmed me down. She didn’t judge me for my dramatic scene that had unfolded on her carpet or love me less because there were now tear marks on her white rug.

She just listened and loved me anyway.

That’s what families are for. That’s what neighbors are for.

Fast forward to Spring Break this year. My family was skiing in Steamboat when we received a call that would forever change our lives. My Aunt Katie had come down with a mysterious skin infection. After many phone calls back and forth and unanswered prayers, she passed away. For the next two days we did nothing but hold each other. Through the silence.

Through the tears. The feeling was unreal.

I didn’t immediately call my neighbors because I didn’t want to talk about it. I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, let alone compose enough sentences to explain.

I wanted to wait until we were back on the block. Where I could do nothing but cry into their shoulders. Where I could do nothing but feel their arms around me. Where I could see nothing but the comforting blues and beiges of their houses.

When we got back to Kansas City, the response from everyone w a s craz y.

The Man on the Longboard W e A couple of years ago a couple moved into the house next to ours. They were young, hip and friendly. One day as I was studying at my desk overlooking the street, I saw the man cruising down the street on a longboard. He was dressed in full business attire and a fluffy white poodle was pulling him along.

After blinking a few times, I realized what I was seeing was real and from that point on had immense respect for his ability to multitask.

had 17 messages on the answering machine, dozens of bouquets of flowers and countless sympathy cards and lasagnas exploding out of our freezer.

Almost all of them from the neighbors.

It was as if they had all banded together to form some super army whose mission was to make sure we were okay. They completely dropped everything they were doing and focused on us. For a period of about two weeks, not one appliance in our kitchen was turned on. We had everything from homemade tortellini to delicious enchiladas. Although no food or kind gesture could fill the empty feeling inside of us, they sure helped to make it smaller.

A couple days later the funeral was held. Grasping my little cousin’s hand, I walked down the aisle with a heavy heart. Almost instantly I felt that weight lifted as I looked into the rows and saw my neighbor’s faces dotting the pews.

The looks on their faces whispered, “We are here for you.”

I couldn’t help but smile inside as I felt completely encompassed by their support.

That’s what families are for. That’s what neighbors are for.

It is through these experiences that the line between neighbor and family begins to blur. There is no favor too big to ask.

There is no problem too personal to tell. Heck, there is even no house key hidden somewhere that we couldn’t find. They have been here through tears and laughter, thick and thin. Because these Dirty Diapers relationships run so At the age of 10 I was still a deep, no change in adnewbie when it came to babysitdress will ever change ting. I took a job for my neighbors for a little boy and girl. Everything this family.

{Emily’s House}

was running smoothly until I went to change her diaper. I was in the process of changing her when she leaped up, stepped in the mess and walked it all over their solid white carpet. Stanley Steemer and I became friends and I didn’t babysit for them until she was out of diapers.

OPINION 08 09-20-10

TIME WASTED KatBuchanan

Junior reflects on her past experiences with underage drinking In sixth grade, I won an award from D.A.R.E. for an essay I wrote.

It was a masterpiece, filled with all of my naïve heart and soul, opening with the hard-hitting line: “My name may be Kat, but that doesn’t mean I have nine lives, and I’m not going to waste the one I do have using drugs and alcohol.”

I read it in front of the entire Westwood View student, parent and administrative body and I was filled with hope for my future, one that was bound to be illegal-substance-free. I promised myself I’d practice what I preached. It seemed easy enough then, standing boldly at the podium with Officer Sullivan at my side.

After sixth grade, I found myself standing on the threshold of middle school and the nearby Pembroke Hill School proved to be the perfect opportunity for a new experience. So I went for it. I applied for the ‘07-’08 academic year and was accepted.

As the preteen with the red D.A.R.E T-shirt on, I had no idea that the coming years would bring me closer and closer to rock bottom. No warning signs telling me to stay where I was. To sidestep disaster.

I had to find out for myself. *** “I don’t know how she got like this, Carol, I really do not.”

I repeatedly bang my head against my best friend’s kitchen door, sobbing, screaming, profanity and gibberish spewing forth, wondering what I’ve done now and how I can escape this lifestyle, how I can right my most recent wrong.

My mind feels like a PowerPoint presentation with too many pictures and scarce bullet points explaining what’s going on. Like I’m having one of those dreams where I show up at school without my backpack, sitting in classes I didn’t sign up for, trying to read words in a language I don’t understand.

Or, more realistically, like I’m blow-a-.24-into-the-breathalyzer drunk.

My friend’s mother’s worried face enters my fuzzy line of vision and I feel my own mom’s hand grip my shoulder, a hopeless attempt to calm her out-of-control daughter.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.

“Kat, we need to get you home. Can you hear me?”

My arms, my legs, my fingers, my toes—nothing is connected; nothing is attached to my body. A tingling sensation fills me up in the worst way possible. There are cuts on my forehead that I won’t notice until morning and my ankles are giving out from stumbling in high-heeled boots. But for the time being, I really can’t hear her.

Images from mere hours before flash through my mind. A production of horror, the Kat Messed Up Again Picture Show.

A bottle of Smirnoff Citron vodka with tap water to chase it down, an unfinished basement floor littered with yellow and black trash bags, an unexpected visit from the host’s father. The distorted, angry look on his face as kids cleared out faster than he could recognize them.

I recall my head hitting an off-white cement driveway and Amy frantically searching through the contacts on my phone, looking for someone, anyone, to get us out of the mess I’d gotten us into.

But of course, we were already in it too deep. *** I was right.

Transferring to Pembroke did bring on an array of changes.

These new experiences ranged from cliques of mean girls to pre-shredded Abercrombie jeans and Ralph Lauren polos.

GrantHeinlein

As I got older and approached the end of eighth grade, the changes in my lifestyle became more prevalent. Things took a turn for the worse with the red solo cup of Kettle One vodka mixed with Sunkist that lead to the two-year detour from the path I had envisioned myself being on.

It was the first time I drank myself to oblivion. I was 14.

I cannot blame my faulty behavior on hanging out with the “wrong crowd” or giving into peer pressure. I can’t blame it on a pushy boyfriend or problems at home or even a desire to experiment.

I can only blame myself. I blame myself wholeheartedly for seeking some way to get around social niceties and skip to drunken heart-to-hearts with strangers. For losing my best friend and my once-strong relationship with my parents; for leaving my morals behind to discover just how much I could act out.

For trying to be someone who I clearly should not be. *** I’m on a hospital bed.

I force my eyes open and immediately cringe at the fluorescent lights shining directly above me. My right hand feels heavy, my eyelids droopy, my mouth dry. I try to follow the marquee of news headlines scrolling underneath the CNN reporter but the words move faster than I can read them. The volume seems to be so loud that it’s thumping directly against my eardrums. Many decibels lower, I can hear my parents’ urgent whispers fluttering around the hallway in front of me.

It feels like a freight train plowed over me and then backed up for good measure.

I look down at my hand and see an IV hooked up to the vein crawling up my pinky finger. My stomach churns, and I’m just lucid enough to note that I have a phobia of needles before my mind goes blank and my vision black.

The next morning, I awake in my bed at home in a cold sweat. More than ever before, I savor that familiar moment of incoherency, that split-second between dream and wake where nothing matters and I’ve done nothing wrong.

Then the memories flood into my already-pounding brain and I pull the covers over my head, hoping with all my heart that this storm passes as quickly as it came. *** After that night my freshman year, I was almost done with it.

I began drinking somewhat sparingly, but when I did, it was big—my friends came to know me as a binge drinker. Using the preface of a special occasion, I’d load up on drinks, a

beer here, a couple of shots there. And then more. I had quickly become the girl that people warned their friends to keep an eye on, the burden, the one who always took it too far.

My not-so-subtle relationship with drinking continued up until the second semester of my sophomore year. A new friend entered my life at precisely the right time and he showed me that above all else, staying true to myself and to what I believe in would be the most important factor in the grand scheme of things.

He showed me that relationships with people can be stronger than any proof label on a bottle and that leaning on someone when I need help is much more effective than grabbing a handle and guzzling it down. That true friendship is of infinitely more value than any fake ID. He showed me the life I thought I’d lost for good, and I haven’t had a drink since. *** More often than not, I find myself lying awake at night wishing that I could erase the past.

Drinking and going to parties and talking about drinking and going to parties—it was a cycle that dominated two years of my life, two years wasted. I didn’t think I had time for old friends or time to make new ones.

I feel so ashamed of things I’ve done under the influence, of the people I’ve hurt and the people I ignored because of the way I was living and the behavior that went along with it. I regret every conversation I missed out on, every family dinner I skipped, every “friend” I never called back.

But in spite of this, I’m glad that it happened to me.

I’m glad that I’ve realized from experience that life has more to offer than a 12-pack of beer, a trip to the liquor store to see if I’ll get carded or a busted party. Money and time can be better spent, especially while I’m still in high school.

I’ve been to the other side, and I know first-hand that I never want to go back. Artificial fun isn’t nearly as great as the real thing.

Since I’ve come to terms with underage drinking and the consequences that go along with it, I’ve found myself with more time to spend on the things I enjoy, things that require thought and hard work and laborious nights in room 521 of Shawnee Mission East. I’ve met many incredible people and learned how to get along with them without throwing back a Bud Light beforehand.

I only have one life, after all. And I’m slowly but surely learning how to live it.

FEATURES issue 2

09

urban an

take

Stonebarger, however, had never taught a photography class going into the AGT Ambassadors program where local AGT teens would also learn the craft of writing, art, and music as well as photography. When longtime friend senior Cormac O’Connor’s mom, Paige O’Connor, approached her about the program, she was immediately on board. All Stonebarger had were the lesson plans she had thought up for the class, and the artistic knowledge she had to share.

Walking into El Centro on the first day of the program, Stonebarger was out of her element. She was 17, teaching a group of 14-18 year olds how to take pictures. A group of teenagers, some of whom had seen gang violence and drugs throughout the community starting at a young age. This was something unfamiliar to Stonebarger. Something she was afraid would prevent her from connecting with the class.

“I was scared out of my mind the first day,” Stonebarger said. “There were kids in the group that had a really tough exterior and I sort of judged them at first.”

Stonebarger realized she wasn’t going to break through the barriers the teenagers put up towards her with simple lesson plans. So, over the weekend, she rummaged through old photography books, trying to find something to connect with the group of teenagers.

She brought a stack of photojournalism and art books to the program the next Monday, hoping to spark the kids’ creativity. Instead of teaching them inside, Stonebarger also decided she would drive the class to a new location in their community everyday to take pictures.

“Letting them choose what they wanted to photograph ended up turning out a lot better because those photos had much more meaning in them,” Stonebarger said.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Stonebarger and the group of AGT teens grew closer together as they embarked on different photography shoots around Argentine.

Stonebarger gained trust in the kids as they gained trust towards her in return. She would drive them around in her mustang, stopping at various places whether it be the train tracks that run through Argentine, the thrift store in town or the park where the kids played basketball on the weekends. Each photo would

tell a different story about a different kid.

As the teen ambassadors developed as photographers, Stonebarger developed an insight into their lives and who they really were, especially 17-year-old Miguel Maclas.

“Miguel always seemed like the tall tough guy in the beginning,” Stonebarger said. “But he grew so much as a photographer.”

At the program’s final showcase, Miguel’s photo of an abandoned, stuffed chair in front of a gratified concrete wall received tremendous feedback from spectators.

Of the 19 Argentine teenagers involved in the program, each had at least two of their photos hung in the showcase.

“Once they saw their photographs framed you could tell their was this beam of self confidence in every one of them,” Stonebarger said.

Leaving the showcase after the guests had come and gone, Stonebarger was overwhelmed with emotions. Pride for what the students accomplished in the 10 weeks they had spent together, emptiness in the fact she would never step foot in the old brick building again.

The experience with the program fueled a desire in Stonebarger to pursue photography further than as just a hobby.

“It revealed a rougher, more urban type of photography to me,” Stonebarger said. “Even though it didn’t feel like a job, I started picturing photography as a career by going to the program every other day.” * * * Now in her senior year, Stonebarger looks to photography as a release from the pressure of homework and college applications.

“When I’m stressed, I find myself leaving my house and going out to some new place to take pictures,” Stonebarger said.

With every press and click of her camera, Stonebarger throws herself into a different world. A world in her mind where everything is framed. Everything is seen in the form of a picture.

Every new environment is a blank canvas for Stonebarger.

The woods throughout Leawood Park, the Power and Light District, the train tracks in Argentine, each setting provides a path for Stonebarger’s creativity to roam freely.

Stonebarger would like to major or minor

in photography after high-school, though isn’t quite sure where yet since there are only 25 schools in the country that offer a photojournalism major.

From the AGT program, Stonebarger better understands what she wants to capture in her own photographs.

“I always want my photographs have meaning to me as well as other people,” Stonebarger said. “I hope one day they’ll be featured in Time magazine.”

the art of

argentine

pictures taken by AGT students

Miguel Maclas

Arturo Molin

KennedyBurgess

The vast, abandoned brick building of El Centro stands at the corner of Main Street in Argentine (AGT), Kansas. Overgrown weeds and birds’ nests peeking through every crack.

Across the street, a minute gas station attracts young children and teenagers as they pile in and out of the store with various snacks and drinks, chattering to each other along the sidewalk. Senior Gail Stonebarger drives through the rusted gate that circles the building in her cherry red Mustang convertible.

She steps out of her car with her black hair loosely tied back in a pony-tail and looks up at the building where she will spend the next 10 weeks teaching a photography class to a group of Argentine teenagers. * * * Page after page, picture after picture.

“This one looks like mine,” five-year-old Stonebarger says as she points at the photo in her lap.

She turns the page again, and continues curiously pondering through her parent’s latest issue of Time Magazine, comparing and contrasting her photos with the ones that fill up the glossy pages of the nationally acclaimed publication.

“The pictures in Time fascinated me,” Stonebarger said. “That’s how it started.”

Even as a small child, Stonebarger began collecting her parent’s disposable cameras.

She took them wherever she went, snapping various photos at multiple birthday parties, until the camera roll hit zero.

When the arranged balloon filled birthday parties of her elementary school days ended, Stonebarger channeled her photography towards the nature that was around her, whether it was finding beauty in the plants and trees of her backyard or capturing memories on different family trips.

It wasn’t until after taking Photo I freshman year, that Stonebarger found a new pasttime in processing her own film and prints.

She was especially attracted to the simplicity of black and white prints. Even with her Nikon D3000, she still finds herself snapping photos with an old Minolta film camera every now and again.

“I loved having that control when developing my own film,” Stonebarger said. “Taking photo classes at East exposed me to that more.”

EdenSchoofs

Senior spends summer teaching a photography class to inner city students

Megan Espinosa photos courtesy of Paige O’Connor

10

FEATURES

09-20-10

Patricia Manning and Nikki Buxton, both new paras to East, walk beside Haley’s wheelchair towards the nurses office. They enter a back room and pull down a bed, all the while chatting about boys and school like any high school friends. Butxton aids Haley in stretching while Manning opens “My Sister’s Keeper” to where they left off last time.

As Haley stretches, Manning cries a little while reading the sad book, and asks Haley for the millionth time why she chose that book. Manning cherishes this time she gets to spend during seminar and 7th hour with Haley.

On seminar days, if Haley’s homework is done, the trio gets to read books like “My Sister’s Keeper” and “Harry Potter”. Haley’s spunk and Manning’s easy laughter make for fun conversations and silly bantering. Sometimes Haley will say “I can tell you’re a mom” when Manning makes motherly comments.

“I think she thinks I’m funny,” Manning said. “Even when I’m not trying to be.”

Manning loves having this interaction with Haley as well as the other students which she didn’t get from either of her previous two jobs. Four years ago, Manning started in the school district as a para for early childhood special needs students- usually about three or four years old. Al-

JohnMosher

First and second hour you would find a friendly man wandering through Ms. Simchuk’s room, answering to the nickname ‘JD’. He peers over shoulders and offers suggestions on art projects while also helping students in the special needs program stay focused on their task for the day. This is Mosher’s, one of East’s new paraprofessionals, favorite part of his day. He gets to combine his current job with his passion: art.

Mosher aspires to be an elementary art teacher because he enjoys working with young kids. At the moment, Mosher is working as a para because there are no art teaching opportunities he is interested in, but he wants to remain in education for his occupation.

though she loved them, the high school atmosphere and classes pose a little more of a challenge as well as interesting conversations and movement.

“I like the moving and the going because I’m kind of that way,” Manning said. “It’s hard for me to sit still.”

After two years of helping younger kids, Manning went into housecleaning with her friend and while it was profitable, the enjoyment was lacking.

“I missed being around people,” Manning said. “I decided this wasn’t something I wanted to do for five years.”

Being a para is the perfect job for Manning because she gets to interact with people and the schedule fits well with her own children’s schedules.

Along with helping Haley, Manning goes from room to room each hour depending on where students need help.

Several hours of the day Manning has Algebra where she gets the homework and worksheets ahead of time and works them out so she will be able to help the students. For Manning, this is the hardest part of being a para- remembering all the Algebra.

Despite this minor challenge, Manning is ecstatic to be working at her ideal job.

PatriciaManning Throughout the rest of the day, Mosher works with several autistic students, as well as several in wheelchairs. He spends each class hour going to different rooms such as study skills or computer classes with anywhere from one to 12 students to help. Mosher is there for the students when they need help catching up on homework or when ChristaMcKittrick they need to stay focused.

“Being aware of the students that you’re working with is the most important thing,” Mosher said.

“You have to know what their abilities are so you aren’t helping them when they can do it on their own.”

meet the {new}

paras

Nikki Buxton

all photos by MarrisaHorwitz

Nikki Buxton, another new para to East, has a lot of experience in helping special needs students. She’s worked at Indian Hills Middle School and has been working for JCCC through the program Clear for 10 years. Clear is a one day program on Saturdays for six to eight hours for special needs students. The main difference between Clear and East’s program is that students in Clear are allowed to come as long as they want- Buxton helps students in their 60s.

Indian Hills’ students on the other hand are younger and not quite as grounded as either the college or high school students. They’re going through all the changes in middle school which makes them harder to work with in Buxton’s opinion.

Out of the three, Buxton’s favorite is a tie between college and high school. Buxton spends 32 and a half hours a week at the high school helping students to learn. She helps adapt the learning to a way that the student understands and uses lots of repetition.

So far, Buxton’s favorite class is Ms. Johnson’s World History because “Johnson does a lot of fun projects to help the kids learn history.”

Pat Harrop is one of the five new paras to come to East.

Pat transferred from SMNW where she worked last year to be closer to where she lived and where her kids went to school.

Although she helps in classes such as English, Harrop’s favorite class to help in is Practical Academics Math, where students learn math that they can use in the real world such as balancing a checkbook. There are around nine social skills students in the class along with several other paras so Harrop assists the students in their learning.

In other classes, Harrop has different roles. Sometimes she takes notes and sometimes she is simply there as support to the teachers.

Her most challenging class is study skills which is a guided study hall for students in the social skills program.

It’s challenging because there are a lot of kids from different classes that are there for help but Harrop isn’t in their classes. This makes it hard to know what the assignment is and how to help them.

Despite this challenge, Harrop enjoys the work and loves all of her students and the time she spends with them.

Pat Harrop

ChristaMcKittrick

Left to right John Mosher, Nicole Buxton, Pat Harrop, Patricia Manning

DEBATER

SPENDING THE TIME

issue 2

11

Profiles of East students who choose to take challenging elective classes Emma Pennington

all photos by DanStewart

As a freshman entering her first debate tournament, senior Ariana Sherk was going up against other East students. She went into it not knowing what to expect or how things would work. Although it wasn’t the most competitive of the tournaments her and her partner ended up not losing a single round.

Since then Sherk has moved into the advanced debate program, which is more fun in her eyes, because students know what to expect and how things will play out.

In advanced debate, the students each have a partner whom they do research with and present the case with at tournaments. Your partner in debate could make or break your experience. The pairing spends lots of time together in the debate room before and after school to put together evidence, go over cases and prepare for their tournaments. Most of the tournaments are Friday evenings and all day Saturday similar to tournaments in sports. “[Winning a tournament] is kind of nerdy but our teacher announces every Monday how everyone did and you get your name up on the wall,” Sherk said.

Teacher Trey Witt thinks many students hear about debate from other friends or siblings who have taken the class before. But no matter how kids have heard of the program it has become a popular program at East. This year there are about 100 novice and about 40 advanced debaters.

“We have one of the largest debate programs in Kansas.” Teacher Trey Witt said. “I think it’s average for most schools to have maybe 20 or 30 kids total. So I think part of the reason kids initially take beginning is because of the reputation of the program.”

Although Sherk doesn’t plan on taking the debate skills she has learned on to college or law school she is still happy she took debate at East.

SPEAKER

Like many East students, senior Spencer Jarrold was first introduced to Spanish in elementary school. But the thing that makes Jarrold stand out is the fact that he has stuck with the language through now his senior year in high school.

Originally his parents were the people who encouraged him to take the class at East. Now in Spanish 6, he has grown to enjoy the class.

“I figured it would be not only good for colleges but I also wanted to learn the language because it has good application to the real world,” Jarrold said.

Spanish 6 teacher Rosa Detrixhe says that this year the class size is smaller than normal. Jarrold finds this to be more personal and a better working environment.

“I like having it so small,” Jarrold said. “Because after quizzes Senora Detrixhe will talk to every single one of us about our quiz instead of having a large class where we have to each be called on and maybe get not all of our questions answered.”

One of the things Jarrold finds difficult about the class is the transition from speaking English all day to only being able to speak Spanish. However, Detrixhe enjoys this part of the class.

“I enjoy Spanish 6 a lot because I can speak my native language just like if I were in Argentina,” Detrixhe said. “And when I see those kids be able to understand me and have a conversation with me of course that is pure enjoyment for me.”

Jarrold plans on continuing his path of Spanish in college although isn’t sure if he will pursue it as a career. He thinks it will be something good for his resume and for life after school to have such a solid background with the language that is slowly becoming more prominent in the US.

PROGRAMMER

FEATURES

It was winter of senior Tyler Cecil’s eighth grade year and it was time for him to sign up for his high school courses.

English 9, check, Honors World Geography, check. As it came time to decide what electives to take, there was no doubt in his mind: he was going to take Intro to Computer Science.

“I had always kind of been a computer person,” Cecil said. “After I built my first computer, I needed an operating system for it. I ended up getting Linux which meant that I had to write programs to do a lot of things. So early on I had to program out of necessity.”

Cecil had programmed as a hobby before, but never in a school setting. Since his freshman year he has taken Programming in Java, Honors Programming in Java and AP Computer Science. This year he is enrolled in an independent study class where he has been working on three main projects: one being a video game and another being a digitized seminar pass system.

Pontier says the class is all about problem solving but finds that most students enjoy the class.

“It’s a roller coaster ride- really happy about something then the next minute you’re frustrated about something,” Pontier says. “But if you’re an independent person who likes problem solving you would love the class.”

On a typical day in his class, the students share what they have done the past few days, and show each other new tricks they have discovered. Then they all get to work. Pontier does little to no lecturing because the students know what they need to be doing. If they need help, they all bounce questions around to each other.

“Because everyone is working on a different project everyone gets to know, really well, just different things,” Cecil said. “And so every time you start a new project you kind of know who’s the expert at school in that type of software.”

Cecil knows he made the right decision to take programming classes at East as he has no doubt in his mind he wants to purse a career with computers.

12

FEATURES

09-20-10

FIGHTING HER BATTLE

&living to tell about it

Senior tells of her stuggles with myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood cancer

KatieEast

KevinSimpson

She isn’t attached to her hair. Never has been. She always considered herself kind of a tomboy, and she had worn it pageboy short early in life. So when senior Rachel Hoffman began to lose hers, she wasn’t fazed.

“When it started coming out, I just thought it was so cool,” Rachel said. “I remember going out to the nurse’s station holding a lock of it and going, ‘Look what happened; this is so cool!”

But Rachel shouldn’t be here to talk about it today. At age 12, she was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome with monosomy 7, often referred to as pre-leukemia. Rachel’s body was unable to make normal blood cells.

“The cancer cells in bone marrow take over everything,” Dr. Jignesh Dalal, Director of Bone Marrow Transplant at Children’s Mercy Hospital, said. “They don’t allow normal blood cells to be made in bone marrow, and you need your blood cells to survive.”

The prognosis wasn’t good. Rachel didn’t want to know what her chances of survival were, but her mother, Torie Clarke, wanted to hear it. She wanted to know what Rachel was up against.

Rachel had a 15 percent chance of making it past five years.

“She shouldn’t be alive,” Clarke said. “There’s no reason medically, clinically, logically - that she should be alive.”

There might not be any explanation for her escape from death, but in life, Rachel Hoffman has always searched for the good in a bad situation. *** Growing up, Rachel was an adventurous child. She loved climbing in trees, rock climbing and riding her bike. She was full of energy, full of life.

All that slowly began to change in the summer of 2004, when Rachel was 12.

She began getting colds, and it became harder to shake them. Once one cold went away, another would emerge immediately. She used to ride her bike to her elementary school in Olathe, but as she became more and more tired, the rides got harder and harder.

“My immune system was just not able to cope with anything,” Rachel said.

Rachel also began to notice emotional changes as well.

She felt less emotion - less worry, but at the same time, less happiness. Her mind and emotions began to slip. School was once fun, but it soon became a chore. She found herself staring off into space more often. When out in public with her mom, Rachel dawdled and had trouble keeping up.

“I couldn’t concentrate on where my feet were going or how fast they were going,” Rachel said. “I couldn’t focus on one train of thought.”

Clarke noticed slight differences in Rachel’s behavior, but she always had a reasonable explanation for it. Rachel was

just tired, she thought. She hadn’t been eating enough. She was stressed over a test. Typical teenage stuff, she thought.

It was the other people that Clarke encountered that seemed to fear something more severe.

“We had several friends that would see Rachel and go, ‘She’s kinda pale,” Clarke said. “It’s almost like they knew better than I did.”

Finally, in November 2004, when Rachel’s sister, Karin Hoffman, was in for a routine appointment about her asthma, the long road to recovery began. The nurse practitioner took one look across the room at Rachel, and asked how recently she had checked her hemoglobin. After a quick conversation, they set up an appointment for Rachel to get her blood drawn at the beginning of the calendar year, once her father’s insurance had switched.

On Jan. 4, 2005, Rachel underwent blood tests so doctors could attempt to figure out what the problem was.

“I had been terrified of needles,” Rachel said. “They used a butterfly needle to draw blood, and I thought, ‘You know, maybe it’s not so bad.’ Little did I know, I’d be getting stuck a lot.”

The next day, the results came in, and Clarke got a call.

They needed to get down to Children’s Mercy Hospital as quickly as possible. Ninety minutes later, they arrived at the hospital, and Rachel and her parents listened as the doctors told them what the prognosis was.

The weather outside was snowy, horrible, nasty, and Clarke didn’t feel much better inside.

“I really wish he’d told me to sit down,” Clarke said. “You felt like you got punched in the stomach, and that was just the very beginning.”

After all the uncertainty, all the tests, all the confusion, one thing was clear: Rachel had cancer.

“Our world has never been the same,” Clarke said.

On Jan. 5, 2005, Rachel Hoffman’s battle began. *** Rachel was never a fighter. Clarke remembers seeing kids take her daughter’s toys, and Rachel never put up any objection. She had always minded her business in a quiet way.

She had never fought for anything, and now she was forced to learn how to do so while fighting for her most prized possession: her life. Rachel avoided thinking about her fate.

To her, it didn’t make a difference.

“Either I fall into one category or the other,” Rachel said.

“There’s not a whole lot I can do about either category, so why waste time worrying about it? If I’m going to be in the larger category, I might as well not worry about it and do as much as I possibly can.”

She couldn’t do much. The chemotherapy weakened her immune system to the point that she was always vulnerable.

Rachel spent her days in isolation, sleeping 12 hours a day and watching “House” and “Lost.” Her friends were the nurses in the hospital, and she’d talk to them daily.

But above all other diversions, Rachel found her greatest escape to be reading.

“I’ve always had a book in my hand,” Rachel said. “Usu-

ally somebody else has a problem, and it’s not my problem to think about.”

Rachel pored over books of all lengths and authors, but they were mostly of the same genre: fantasy.

“When I read, I want to read something that’s not in this universe, because I get enough of this universe as is,” Rachel said. “You can do things you want in your head. Things can be other than they are. I look differently in my own head - I look like I did before I was diagnosed.”

She says that she read “The Trumpet of the Swan” by E.B. White over and over as a child. After the transplant, she picked it up again. It was a quick read, taking about a day. In those moments, it became her favorite book to read again and again. It comes as no surprise. The story’s main character is born without a voice, and is forced to overcome his physical obstacle.

Just like Rachel. *** Beating the odds involved more than just isolation for Rachel. She underwent multiple blood transfusions, a few rounds of chemotherapy and eventually received a bone marrow transplantation from a 32-year-old man.

The process was a tough one on Rachel. Her hair fell out.

Her stomach felt upset. She was always tired. Her immune system had been worn down by the chemotherapy, and she was always at risk. She couldn’t go to movies, couldn’t eat at restaurants, and couldn’t even go into the sun as often. But the struggles didn’t stop at physical pain. About a year after the diagnosis, Rachel began feeling depressed.

“I didn’t have any emotions,” Rachel said. “You start to become isolated, because you can’t do the things that you used to be able to do, and you’re not allowed to do the things that you used to be able to do.”

There were moments that gave the family hope. Just after one of the transfusions, Clarke began to make grilled cheese for Rachel, and then she moved on into the laundry room. Rachel took it upon herself to flip the grilled cheese, and Clarke was shocked.

“That’s the smartest thing you’ve done in six months!”

Clarke told Rachel.

Though the road would be long, hope was there.

“She had her brain back,” Clarke said. “She had herself back.”

Rachel endured several setbacks during the recovery process, including cataracts in her eyes and scar tissue in her lungs. Most recently, she is battling a case of grafts vs. host disease, which occurs since her blood is different from the rest of her organs and skin due to the transplant, and the blood attacks them. Her joints have calcified and her skin is stiffened up. Rachel currently can’t extend her arms past a 90 degree angle due to the calcification in her elbows.

Despite all the complications, Rachel finally began to receive some good news in 2007. She was undergoing constant blood tests, and the cancer cells were present less and less frequently, until the cells stopped showing up entirely. She

continued on page 15

FEATURES

always looking forward

Despite his blindness, East alum Tom Fairhurst keeps a positive attitude and athletic lifestyle while

ChrisHeady

Each step is something new for Tom Fairhurst.

From the paved roads, cracked sidewalks and sounds of the street, his feet and ears tell his brain what his eyes aren’t able to.

He rounds the corner of his navy house on 77th street onto Delmar Road. As he walks along the street to the Prairie Village pool, he passes by his old high school he graduated 40 years previous, and it’s track he still runs on frequently.

He’s greeted with the usual friendly sounding hellos from managers and patrons at the pool as he makes his way down the stairs and ramp to the meter pool. Walking in baby steps, his shins meet the royal blue bench he always sets his white and gray bag on.

Shuffling slowly he finds the gutter to the second lap-lane and sits down. Moving his head, Fairhurst listens, but doesn’t see.

He listens to the birds, the kids playing, and the pool’s soothing sound of the water crashing into the gutter. With a smile on his face, he slides in, and begins swimming.

*

* *

On Aug. 28, Tim Pickell attended Shawnee Mission East’s 40 year anniversary of the class of 1970. Amongst the crowd were wealthy business men, the most decorated track athlete in the school’s history, and a blind man.

Pickell chose his long term friend Fairhurst over a good portion of the crowd to spend his time with, and for good reason. He finds Fairhurst’s accomplishments in life to be superior to any business deal or track record.

“He’s not just inspirational to me but a lot of people,” said Pickell. “I mean, when you think about ok: I have a job, I can see, I can run, I can swim, I’m independent. And I have a classmate who has most of those things and is blind. That’s pretty remarkable to me.”

To the Fairhurst family, Tom’s birth was somewhat of a surprise. To everyone’s bewilderment, Fairhurst was born two months pre-mature, and was in life threatening danger from the moment he first saw light. Most pre-mature baby’s have a serious risk of breathing problems, lung troubles or hearing loss. But the Fairhurst family was in for something different.

After the delivery, he was placed in the incubator with all of the other babies. Too much oxygen was let into the room at St. Luke’s hospital, and the day-old Fairhurst became blind, and unable to see. All he could see was light, and dark.

Fairhurst was diagnosed with what is called Retro-mentalfiber-palsies. In short, the scarring of the retinas. The degree of blindness is due to how much of the retina is scarred, and Tom was staring at darkness.

As he grew older, Fairhurst strived for normality.

He went to Camp Nash four different times in the summers for Boy Scouts and received his Eagle Scout. He chased the ice cream man all around town every hot summer day to get his popsicle fix before going home every night. But inspite of all of his attempts to be in the ‘In-crowd,’ Tom couldn’t fight the blindness. No matter what he did, or how hard he tried, he could never see the faces of his friends as they rode their bikes. He could never see the red drops of flavor from his favorite Popsicle melting onto the sidewalk, and he would never be able to see his purple badge being placed on his scout uniform.

But Pickell remembers Tom’s attitude being cheerful as a kid, and even still today.

“He is about as normal as you can be without being able to see,” said Pickell. “He was very even-tempered and general smiling” At the end of a conversation, Fairhurst will even sometimes call out to Pickell, “Alright see ya later Tim,” and Pickell would jokingly reply, “Well, no you won’t.” Fairhurst laughs and replies “Alright then I’ll talk to you later.”

After Prairie Elementary school and Indian Hills Junior High together, Fairhurst and Pickell went on to Shawnee Mission East.

According to Pickell, Fairhurst was a dedicated student that always put his schoolwork first. He was serious, but had a good sense of humor to back up his seriousness. Fairhurst attended all the high school football games and most of the basketball games on Friday nights. He was involved in the choir program at East and has always loved the musical pieces in life. But he didn’t love high school.

“I had a little bit of growing up to do and, like it or not, the blindness was a factor. It just was. Right or wrong,” said Fairhurst.

But negativity just wasn’t then, and still isn’t now, any kind of option for Fairhurst after high school.

“There’s been acceptance but also willingness to try and meet the challenges,” said Fairhurst. “sure, I have a blue day like everyone else does but it doesn’t dominate my life.

After graduating from high school from East and college at William Jewel, Tom moved in with his father after his mother passed away in 1977. He then began to walk from his house to the East track. Once he arrived, he began to run. Running in the closest lane to the football field, Fairhurst trotted, dragging his metal cane along the side so he could know where to turn.

Running a few laps one day, swimming a couple another, Tom never lets his lack of eyesight get in the way of his favorite part of the day, his workout. When he isn’t checking his email, looking for work, chopping up a fallen tree branch or listening to a ballgame on the radio, Fairhurst can be found in one of his two favorite places.

The track, or the pool.

There’s been the past five sumacceptance but mers,For five or six days a week, also willingness Fairhurst walks up his street, to try and meet and into the Prairie Village pool. Without even having the challenges. to see his feet step one in front Tom Fairhurst of the other, Tom walks in, travels down the stairs to the meter pool, and gets ready for his 16 laps a day. When Fairhurst enters the facility, everyone turns to see. All the lifeguards, all the managers, all of the patrons near the meter pool. Just seeing him accomplish a task like walking to the pool and swimming, Pickell, who is also a member of the pool, feeds off of Tom’s drive.

“Whenever I’m swimming in a lane by him and I start to get tired, I glance over at him and think, ‘well, what’s my excuse?” Said Pickell. “Even if you don’t know him, just seeing him makes you want to do better.”

Sometimes, Pickell closes his eyes as he swims. Just to see what it is like. Rarely does he make it the entire 50 meters, but it makes Pickell appreciative of his eyesight even that much more.

Though he receives a lot, many of his friends will tell you, Fairhurst doesn’t seek help. He doesn’t look for compassion and he doesn’t feel bad for himself. He feels that life is worth living to the fullest, and is too short to feel bad about yourself.

“I like going out there and focusing on other people, not focusing on poor me,” said Fairhurst.

“My blindness is just a part of life,” said Fairhurst smiling.

Not only is Fairhurst an athlete, but as musician as well.

He was in the choir program throughout his high school education, and then went on to William Jewel and was in their musical program as well.

His mother taught him how to play the piano by verbalizing the notes to him as he played, and now he plays his favorite music by ear.

“

”

issue 2

13

Tom Fairhurst runs around the East track on a typical five mile run. Fairhurst was born blind, but that hasn’t stopped him from running. He uses his cane to navigate the track.

photo courtesy of Tom Fairhurst

Whether its singing, playing the piano, or his new favorite, downloading music, Fairhurst has kept music in his life. He holds dearly his fathers old records, and listens to them often.

“I just always have loved [music],” said Fairhurst. “and I’ve have continued that interest in different ways throughout my whole life.”

*

*

*

It’s 6:30 a.m. when Pickell finally pulls into the East track.

Fresh out of college track, Pickell planned on getting in a solid workout in the morning before he went on with the rest of his day.

“I got up there and I was feeling pretty proud of myself, but also kind of griping about how this was going to stink,” said Pickell.

But once Pickell walked onto the track, he no longer had a reason to complain. There was Tom Fairhurst, blind, running in the first lane, with his white cane dragging on the edge.

Pickell waited for Tom to finish before talking to him. He asked him how far he had ran, expecting it to be one or two.

“Oh I ran five,” said Tom with a smile. He turned around, and walked home.

“I just remember thinking, he’s blind, and he just ran five miles and now he’s walking home,” said Pickell. “and I just ran one sprint and I’m sucking air? I have to keep running now.”

Whether it’s playing music, running, rollerblading or ice skating, Tom Fairhurst has inspired many to not let their faults, overcome their ambitions. Each step on the East track is one step closer to normality in Fairhurst’s mind, even if his feet are telling him where to go, rather than his eyes.

FEATURES 14 09-20-10

ACING AWARENESS

***

Tori’s grandmother made it a point to take her and her mom on special trips. When Tori was in first grade, they went to Disney World and ate breakfast with Disney princesses. In second grade, it was Chicago. At the American Girl Store, they had “an extremely VIP time” because Tori’s grandmother, true to form, knew the head of the store.

But in sixth grade, during the summer of 2006, it was just the two of them. They went to New York City and stayed in the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. They saw “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King” on Broadway, as well as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring the Rockettes.

“It was a blast to be around her,” Tori said.

“She always knew how to make me smile and

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Tori participated in her first Whisper Walk right after her mom’s cancer returned for a second round. Her mom, constantly in treatment at St. Luke’s Hospital, had heard about the race through a nurse. Together they signed up.

“It was good to have that time with her...to have a break from everything and be able to walk.”

But after another race together in 2007, the next year, Tori had to look elsewhere for walking partners. She asked three of her friends to accompany her. That number grew to seven in 2009.

This year, with the option to form a team, the group has grown a little bit more. Tori made announcements in her U.S. History, Photo II and Choir classes, telling classmates about the walk and giving them her e-mail address.

Ten people have given her definite “yes”s.

Ovarian cancer is known as the silent cancer because it often becomes deadly before any symptoms show up. But Tori’s message about it has progressively become louder.

“It’s for your moms, your sisters, your children,” Tori said. “It’s for the women in your life with a potential risk.”

Looking to the picture of her mom that hangs next to her grandmother’s framed sunglasses, Tori knows her mom would approve of her plans to become a nurse.

“I feel like she’s here watching,” Tori said.

“She’s here. I know she is.”

common conditions, including digestive and bladder disorders. A woman with ovarian cancer may be diagnosed with another condition before finally learning she has cancer. Common misdiagnoses include irritable bowel syndrome, stress and depression.

BREAST CANCER

***

PULMONARY DISEASE

***

Tori’s mom was her best friend. She accompanied her daughter on long nature walks.

She played tag with her inside the house. As her Girl Scout troop leader, she once started a game of mattress surfing down a lodge ramp at Camp Timber Lake in Stillwell.

Every weekend, Tori and her mom did a lot of what Tori calls “unnecessary shopping” at Target and Deals on 75th and Metcalf. Simply happy to spend time together, they would see how far they could stretch $30 between the two stores. On one expedition, they bought paper towels, brownie mix, and a couple of growyour-own boyfriends.

“She loved giving crazy gifts to her friends,” Tori said. “I thought she was the most perfect person in the world.”

In August of 2004, this perfect person was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the third stage, meaning that the cancer had spread to either her abdominal lining or her lymph nodes. She had a 30-50 percent chance of surviving the next five years.

Tori had just started fifth grade.

“I was sitting in the cafeteria [of the hospital] eating Ben and Jerry’s while my parents talked with the doctor,” Tori said. “Then I finished and went back up [to the examination room], and they told me she had this thing called cancer. I didn’t know what that was.”

Her mom was scheduled for a surgery to remove all tumors, followed by chemotherapy to kill the rest of the cancer cells. After months of treatment, she was in remission by the end of 2005.

But by the end of 2006, there were signs that the cancer had come back. Tori’s mom

LUNG CANCER

how to have a good time.”

Although Tori’s grandmother traveled often with her disease, a few months after their return from New York, she began to lose her eight year battle.

“You could definitely see her starting to get weaker,” Tori said. “She was much thinner. Her face started to cave in.”

She died Sept. 25.

Because of her young age, Tori didn’t understand what had happened to her grandmother at first. But when it sank in that she wouldn’t have any more “Gran and Tori” dates, it hit her: no more shopping sprees, no more movies together, no more special meals at Olive Garden.

STROKE

MorganChristian

On the wall in junior Tori Holt’s room hangs a picture frame containing three pairs of her grandmother’s Chanel sunglasses. They are red, white, bejeweled--and stylishly oversized.

Below the sunglasses, on Tori’s dresser, is a wooden box containing pieces of her mom’s jewelry: silver hearts strung into bracelets, a pearl necklace, rings with crosses cut into them.

Under normal circumstances, Tori’s mom would still be wearing her jewelry, and her grandmother, her sunglasses. But it was under extraordinary circumstances that these two women were taken away from her when she was in seventh grade. Within months of each other, they each died of the same disease: ovarian cancer. In rare cases, ovarian cancer is genetically linked. But in Tori’s family, this was not the case. Her mom and her grandmother were from opposite sides of her family.

Now, their accessories make up a special place of memories in Tori’s room.

On Sunday, Tori will honor both of them at the sixth annual Ovarian Cancer Whisper Walk hosted by the Spelman Medical Foundation. It will be her fifth time walking.

Every time, she cries. Her tears don’t stem from grief, but the hope that the women at the race, by educating themselves, won’t have to go through what her family did “I cry usually before it starts or when I look at the wall of memories,” Tori said. “It’s really special to see all these people raising awareness and supporting the cause.”

WHAT IS OVARIAN CANCER? Cancer that forms in tissues of the ovary (one of a pair of female reproductive glands in which was always exhausted, and always sick. She the ova, or eggs, are formed). Most ovarian was barely able to walk. cancers are either ovarian epithelial carci“She wasn’t the person I had known when I nomas (cancer that begins in the cells on was little,” Tori said. the surface of the ovary) or malignant germ The cancer had swiftly become terminal. In cell tumors (cancer that begins in egg cells). early February of 2007, Tori’s mom moved into the Hospice House. She died early in the morning of February 26.

Her family got the call at 5:07 a.m. The ringing phone woke Tori up.

“I went downstairs and I knew. I didn’t have 1 in 57 women in the U.S. to talk to my dad,” Tori said. “Then I went upstairs and lay on my bed. I was shocked.” are diagnosed annually.

The last time Tori had talked to her mom was the night before she died.

THE CONFUSING DIAGNOSIS: Symp“She wasn’t really with it,” Tori said. “I held toms of ovarian cancer are nonspecific her hand, told her I got a new haircut, and told and mimic those of many other more her I loved her.”

HEART DISEASE

R

{THE FACTS{

Top five causes of death in women annually.

A STARTLING STATISTIC: Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women and accounts for more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproduction system.

ANNUAL CASUALTIES

DUE TO REPRODUCTIVE CANCERS

13,626 WOMEN

VS.

360

MEN www.wrongdiagnosis.com

courtesy of the Holt family

FEATURES issue 2

the

New SHERIFF inTOWN

15

New School Resource Officer comes to East for four-year assignment, hopes to increase safety and security at school

MarissaHorwitz

PaigeHess School Resource Officer Joel Porter still remembers the look on the mother’s face. She had been frantically worrying about her 2-year-old son that had gone missing. But when she saw Porter walking towards her, toddler in hand, all her fears went away.

Ever since high school, Porter had been looking for an adventure. He never wanted a job like his father’s, sitting behind a desk as an accountant. He finally found what he wanted to do after signing on to become a Prairie Village police officer. Chasing down carjackers, running after bank robbers and finding lost babies--what kept his job interesting for six-and-a-half years.

“I wanted to be out there doing things and being active,” Porter said. “It was also appealing to me to help people out and the adventure aspect of law enforcement intrigued me.”

But now Porter has left the streets of Prairie Village to become East’s new SRO. He applied for the job and then spent two years on patrol assignments, a requirement for becoming an SRO. He technically works for the city police force, but is working at East on a four-year shift.

“The way our department works is any special assignment outside of patrol or getting promoted is a four-year

Continued from page 12 had beaten the odds. An 85 percent chance of death, a near certainty, had been defied by a few medical procedures and a 70-pound girl that refused to give up hope.

Rachel continues to defy common logic, and she is even teaching her doctor a few things.

“What I am learning from her is in spite of difficulties, keep on smiling,” Dr. Dalal said. “It is so satisfying to see her after going through all of this that she’s able to go to school, able to study. I am giving her example to my other patients that with determination, fight and hard work, you can beat leukemia.”

After her triumph over cancer, Rachel and her family are working is working to find a balance between being careful with her health and keeping her from living in a bubble, shielded from everything in the world.

“You need to be cautious, you need to be intelligent, but there’s a line where you can’t live your entire life in the house with the

rotating assignment because we are a small police department,” Porter said.

When he isn’t spending eight hours of his day making sure the laws are being followed at East, he has a wife and four-and-a-half month old son. This triathlete spends a lot of his time being active and playing sports--basketball being his favorite. He also loves to read.

Porter’s number one priority as the school year begins is to increase the safety and security within the school grounds. He hasn’t quite figured the job out yet as he began working at East only four weeks ago and is learning new things every day. Porter has gone to certain English classes and introduced himself to students.

“He looked really young when he came in but I think he will be more relatable to the students and easier to get along with,” said sophomore Addison Anthony.

The responsibility of an SRO is to deal with any illegal situations going on at school. At East that includes both prescription and recreational drug abuse as well as alcohol consumption. If an arrest needs to be made on campus, that job falls to the SRO. According to Principal Karl Krawitz, Porter is to be

shades drawn,” Clarke said. “There’s a point for me where I’d much rather have her live as much as possible, even if it kills her. If getting out and living means that potentially it could kill her, that’s God’s choice - not mine.” *** After transferring to East during the 200809 school year, Rachel began working on her GED. She is far enough behind in her credits that she had to push back her graduation from last year to this year. Despite all the work she’s doing for herself, she hasn’t forgotten about the kids that are in situations similar to the one she endured.

Rachel, Clarke and Karen Anthony, a nurse at Children’s Mercy Hospital, are all working together to found RaJa’s, a community center and school for immunocompromised children from ages 2-18. The center was named with the first two letters of Rachel’s name and the first two letter’s of Jason, a nurse’s son that was killed in a car accident. Rachel’s role

seen as a teacher or guide for students when it comes to law-related situations. The problems he has dealt with so far range from helping students whose friends are getting involved in drugs or alcohol to cheating on a test.

“He could serve as a counselor people can go to if they are having to deal with other outside legal issues that maybe they want to get an opinion on to ease their anxiety of their situation without directly getting involved,” Dr. Krawitz said.

Dr. Krawitz hopes that having a young SRO like Porter will help students relate to him more than SROs East has had in the past. Both Dr. Krawitz and Porter have the goal of giving students a more positive view on police officers. “[Officers] are not out to get [students] or get them in trouble, that is really not why we are here,” said Porter. “I am just trying to change preconceived ideas.”

in the center is fundraising. Since the center’s total start-up costs expect to be around $1 million, she’s helping write applications for grants and looking for connections to large donors. She even set up a golf tournament and is working on a making a run for RaJa’s.

There is currently a RaJa’s Facebook page, and Rachel said that they hope to get a website up and running soon.

For Rachel, it was a no-brainer to make a place like RaJa’s.

“There needs to be some place for these kids to go,” Rachel said. “I was alone. I would have been able to relate to kids much better.

I would have had a lot less of the depression that I had, since a lot of it was the isolation and not having anyone to talk to.”

Clarke sees her daughter as the perfect person to advocate for those in a situation similar to what she underwent.

“If anybody knows what [the kids] in that position need, it’s Rachel and if anybody is go-

For additional media coverage of SRO Officer Joel Porter, check out www.smeharbinger.net

ing to be capable in articulating that and succeeding in that goal, it’s Rachel,” Clarke said.

“It gives her a goal. I think RaJa’s has been one of the best things for giving her something to look forward to, for giving her direction, for giving her a reason to not die.”

Dr. Dalal said that Rachel’s hair will grow back, and his staff continues to search for treatments to help her joints. The odds of a relapse into cancer are very small, according to Dr. Dalal, and he predicts that she will have a normal life expectancy.

“It’s finally starting to get where I can think about the future,” Rachel said. “You don’t think past a week or two from now. You don’t make plans because if I get a fever over 100.5 degrees, they stick me in the hospital for up to a month, and you never know. We’re actually starting to be able to plan ahead.”

For a girl so fascinated by stories of fantasy and the unknown, Rachel Hoffman is starting to enjoy the benefits of certainty.

SPREAD

SPREAD

students

who have

LIBERAL views...

had a positive reaction to 77% the Recovery Act believe the government

25% don’t

75%SHOULD

regulate the economy

when it passed

23% had a negative view

that 9% 68%thesayARRA changed their view

ONLY

about the ARRA has helped the economy

32% say no

Shawnee

who have

conservative views...

the funds, Head Start of Shawnee Mission will raise the money to keep employees salaries steady.

Fifty percent of the quality improvement dollars were used for compensation and benefits for education personnel, family services workers and child counselors. The second half of those funds was used to purchase equipment for classrooms, pay teaching assistant salaries and relocate fencing on the playground making it easier for teachers to supervise the students.

Head Start programs that receive Head Start grants from the federal government are never fully funded. It’s mandated that for every $100 of grant money the program must attain a $25 match.

VanZandt Travis said the ARRA grant has helped them better serve their students, but they are still in need, so local support will be key for them in the coming years.

regulate the economy

37% DON’T

62% 70% the Recovery Act when it passed

A woman walks in the door of the Catholic Charities Family Support Center, an eviction notice in her hand.

She tells the volunteers she has 5 days until she loses her home. Really, she says she wants to know if there’s a homeless shelter nearby, because she knows she’ll need one soon.

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas is seeing more and more of these situations, according to James Cianciaruso, Director of Family Stabilization. This year, as a result of the economic downturn, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas has had a 21

percent increase in the number of people they serve. They’ve also faced a tightening budget as they stretch to meet the increasing need for their services.

But Cianciarus said they’re proud they haven’t had to lay off any staff or turn any people away. “ In order to meet the need, we’ve had to shift some of our priorities into different areas,” Cianciarus said. “ We’ve really directed a lot more resources into helping those in need instead of administration.”

Catholic Charities of NE KS received a $63,439 sub-award from a ARRA grant given to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program (EFSP) from the Department of Homeland Security.

“The money that has come from ESFP has absolutely helped us provide services to people,” Cianciaruso

out

Recovery

AnnieSgroi The Dallas Morning News called it “a troubling hodgepodge” because of its many facets; multiple New York Times columns have praised its job creation, and it’s been debated on news programs non-stop since Aug. 2009 when it took affect.

17

Of those who said their view was positive... 32%think the ARRA has helped the economy the government 30% had a positive one 63%believe SHOULDN’T didn’t change their mind had a negative reaction to

Mapping Head Start of Shawnee Mission

photo courtesy of smks.headstart.org

Two hundred and fifty names are currently on the waiting list for Head Start of Shawnee Mission, the local branch of the national early education program for lowincome children. This year, there are 218 students enrolled, ranging from infants to five-year-olds. at Head Start, but Terrie VanZandtTravis, Head Start Exec Director said that’s not nearly enough.

Head Start of Shawnee Mission applied for an ARRA grant hoping to get enough additional funding to support more students, but they didn’t receive those funds.

“We were disappointed because we have a very long wait list . . .We ended last school year with 350 kids on the wait list,” VanZandt-

Travis said. “These are kids that are eligible; they’re low income, they met all the qualifying parameters, we simply didn’t have the funding to serve them.”

The $117,288 ARRA grant they did receive from the Department of Health and Human Services was utilized for cost of living adjustments for employees and quality improvement of the classrooms and playground.

The cost of living adjustment was that every employee received a increase or salary adjustment of 4.9 percent. Head Start employees normally receive a 3.06 percent cost of living increase from federal grants and with the ARRA grant they received an extra 1.84 percent. However, according to VanZandt-Travis it is unclear whether that 1.84 percent will be provided by the federal government in the coming years.

She said that even if the federal government isn’t able to provide

Kansas Department of Transportation

Holiday

When drivers approach orange detour signs they see an inconvenience. But Steve Swartz Public Information Officer for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) sees a step towards economic growth.

From the ARRA, the KDOT received $268 million from the UnitDred States Department of Transportation in August 2009. According to Swartz, the money came when KDOT was under a hiring freeze and had been forced to halt plans for new projects, because the amount of federal funds was uncertain.

Those funds have paid for the 150 projects currently in progress

in Kansas, from improving public transit to repaving. Within those 150, there are five projects the KDOT calls “Game Changers” because they will affect the greatest number of people. One of these projects is construction on US Highway 69 in Overland Park.

The KDOT predicts these projects will create or sustain between 10,000 and 11,000 jobs.

According to Swartz, infrastructure projects, especially those in transportation, require lots of labor jobs and also create business for people who supply materials needed for the projects. Swartz said that the money those workers receive expands into the economy, because now those people can spend more money on things like groceries and going to the movies than they would otherwise.

“It’s doing exactly what the Recovery Act was meant to do, which is to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and make infrastructure improvements,” Swartz said.

students

Catholic Charities

*Based on a survey of 120 students

issue 2

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, or stimulus bill, was passed by Congress on Feb. 13, 2009. According to Recovery.gov, the government website which tracks the ARRA’s progress, it has three goals: to create jobs and save currently existing jobs, stimulate economic develop-

ment in both the short and long-term and to set a precedent of accountability government spending.

Here’s a local look at the effect the of the stimulus bill through profiles of four organizations in the Kansas City area that have received ARRA grants.

St. Luke’s Hospital

09-20-10

the

16

Two programs at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute received monetary transfusions to get them up and running from the US Department of Health and Human Services from the ARRA. According to Dr. John Spertus of the Mid-America Heart Institute, the first program, which received $199,998 is a “very exciting” research project in which St Luke’s is collecting data from heart failure patients who volunteer to donate DNA for genetic analyses. St. Luke’s will then collaborate with Washington University in St Louis and the University of Pennsylvania to look for rare genetic mutations associated with extreme good

38% did

BUT 68% DON’T THINK IT HAS

said. “We designate that money to go to homeless prevention and utility assistance.”

Eileen Brown, Special Projects Director at Catholic Charities of NE KS said they have seen not only an increase in the number of clients, but a change in their demographic. Many of their recent clients are people who’ve never needed help before.

Brown recalled one man who came to them for the first time this year. After they had helped him get back on his feet, they received a letter from him. He opened the letter by telling them that a few weeks prior he had been in a Walmart bathroom considering taking his life. The reason, he explained, was that he had nothing.

No job, no home and no hope. Brown said he ended the letter by thanking them for giving him back some of what he had lost—a job and an apart-

ment with one month’s rent paid. Brown and Cianciarus agreed this man’s experience represents the “wrap around” services they strive to provide.

Brown said many of the people coming to Catholic Charities are the working poor— people who are working two or three jobs.

“Sometimes in an economy like this it’s just one little thing, it could be an unexpected car repair bill or a medical bill, and all of a sudden they’re starting on a downward spiral of having to make choices between . . . Do I keep the heat on in the winter or do I get this prescription for my child?,” Brown said. “We really try to be there. . . to say here’s how you can keep food on your table as well as keeping your utilities on.”

and bad reactions to common medical treatments for heart disease, such as beta blockers.

The second program, which received $4,173,054, is a study of using new, more detailed consent forms for patients undergoing angioplasty, a surgery in which blood vessels that are too narrow or blocked are widened.

“The goal is to create individualized consent forms that are more educational and that support evidencebased, individualized decision making for more effective, and cost-effective, care,” Spertus said.

The genetic correlation research initiative has created five new jobs in Kansas City. The consent form grant has paid a full salary for five jobs in Kansas City, a partial salary for five other Kansas Citians and six full salaries for researchers in other cities in the United States.

All photos by EdenSchoofs and DanStewart

SPREAD

SPREAD

students

who have

LIBERAL views...

had a positive reaction to 77% the Recovery Act believe the government

25% don’t

75%SHOULD

regulate the economy

when it passed

23% had a negative view

that 9% 68%thesayARRA changed their view

ONLY

about the ARRA has helped the economy

32% say no

Shawnee

who have

conservative views...

the funds, Head Start of Shawnee Mission will raise the money to keep employees salaries steady.

Fifty percent of the quality improvement dollars were used for compensation and benefits for education personnel, family services workers and child counselors. The second half of those funds was used to purchase equipment for classrooms, pay teaching assistant salaries and relocate fencing on the playground making it easier for teachers to supervise the students.

Head Start programs that receive Head Start grants from the federal government are never fully funded. It’s mandated that for every $100 of grant money the program must attain a $25 match.

VanZandt Travis said the ARRA grant has helped them better serve their students, but they are still in need, so local support will be key for them in the coming years.

regulate the economy

37% DON’T

62% 70% the Recovery Act when it passed

A woman walks in the door of the Catholic Charities Family Support Center, an eviction notice in her hand.

She tells the volunteers she has 5 days until she loses her home. Really, she says she wants to know if there’s a homeless shelter nearby, because she knows she’ll need one soon.

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas is seeing more and more of these situations, according to James Cianciaruso, Director of Family Stabilization. This year, as a result of the economic downturn, Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas has had a 21

percent increase in the number of people they serve. They’ve also faced a tightening budget as they stretch to meet the increasing need for their services.

But Cianciarus said they’re proud they haven’t had to lay off any staff or turn any people away. “ In order to meet the need, we’ve had to shift some of our priorities into different areas,” Cianciarus said. “ We’ve really directed a lot more resources into helping those in need instead of administration.”

Catholic Charities of NE KS received a $63,439 sub-award from a ARRA grant given to the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program (EFSP) from the Department of Homeland Security.

“The money that has come from ESFP has absolutely helped us provide services to people,” Cianciaruso

out

Recovery

AnnieSgroi The Dallas Morning News called it “a troubling hodgepodge” because of its many facets; multiple New York Times columns have praised its job creation, and it’s been debated on news programs non-stop since Aug. 2009 when it took affect.

17

Of those who said their view was positive... 32%think the ARRA has helped the economy the government 30% had a positive one 63%believe SHOULDN’T didn’t change their mind had a negative reaction to

Mapping Head Start of Shawnee Mission

photo courtesy of smks.headstart.org

Two hundred and fifty names are currently on the waiting list for Head Start of Shawnee Mission, the local branch of the national early education program for lowincome children. This year, there are 218 students enrolled, ranging from infants to five-year-olds. at Head Start, but Terrie VanZandtTravis, Head Start Exec Director said that’s not nearly enough.

Head Start of Shawnee Mission applied for an ARRA grant hoping to get enough additional funding to support more students, but they didn’t receive those funds.

“We were disappointed because we have a very long wait list . . .We ended last school year with 350 kids on the wait list,” VanZandt-

Travis said. “These are kids that are eligible; they’re low income, they met all the qualifying parameters, we simply didn’t have the funding to serve them.”

The $117,288 ARRA grant they did receive from the Department of Health and Human Services was utilized for cost of living adjustments for employees and quality improvement of the classrooms and playground.

The cost of living adjustment was that every employee received a increase or salary adjustment of 4.9 percent. Head Start employees normally receive a 3.06 percent cost of living increase from federal grants and with the ARRA grant they received an extra 1.84 percent. However, according to VanZandt-Travis it is unclear whether that 1.84 percent will be provided by the federal government in the coming years.

She said that even if the federal government isn’t able to provide

Kansas Department of Transportation

Holiday

When drivers approach orange detour signs they see an inconvenience. But Steve Swartz Public Information Officer for the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) sees a step towards economic growth.

From the ARRA, the KDOT received $268 million from the UnitDred States Department of Transportation in August 2009. According to Swartz, the money came when KDOT was under a hiring freeze and had been forced to halt plans for new projects, because the amount of federal funds was uncertain.

Those funds have paid for the 150 projects currently in progress

in Kansas, from improving public transit to repaving. Within those 150, there are five projects the KDOT calls “Game Changers” because they will affect the greatest number of people. One of these projects is construction on US Highway 69 in Overland Park.

The KDOT predicts these projects will create or sustain between 10,000 and 11,000 jobs.

According to Swartz, infrastructure projects, especially those in transportation, require lots of labor jobs and also create business for people who supply materials needed for the projects. Swartz said that the money those workers receive expands into the economy, because now those people can spend more money on things like groceries and going to the movies than they would otherwise.

“It’s doing exactly what the Recovery Act was meant to do, which is to create jobs, stimulate the economy, and make infrastructure improvements,” Swartz said.

students

Catholic Charities

*Based on a survey of 120 students

issue 2

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, or stimulus bill, was passed by Congress on Feb. 13, 2009. According to Recovery.gov, the government website which tracks the ARRA’s progress, it has three goals: to create jobs and save currently existing jobs, stimulate economic develop-

ment in both the short and long-term and to set a precedent of accountability government spending.

Here’s a local look at the effect the of the stimulus bill through profiles of four organizations in the Kansas City area that have received ARRA grants.

St. Luke’s Hospital

09-20-10

the

16

Two programs at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute received monetary transfusions to get them up and running from the US Department of Health and Human Services from the ARRA. According to Dr. John Spertus of the Mid-America Heart Institute, the first program, which received $199,998 is a “very exciting” research project in which St Luke’s is collecting data from heart failure patients who volunteer to donate DNA for genetic analyses. St. Luke’s will then collaborate with Washington University in St Louis and the University of Pennsylvania to look for rare genetic mutations associated with extreme good

38% did

BUT 68% DON’T THINK IT HAS

said. “We designate that money to go to homeless prevention and utility assistance.”

Eileen Brown, Special Projects Director at Catholic Charities of NE KS said they have seen not only an increase in the number of clients, but a change in their demographic. Many of their recent clients are people who’ve never needed help before.

Brown recalled one man who came to them for the first time this year. After they had helped him get back on his feet, they received a letter from him. He opened the letter by telling them that a few weeks prior he had been in a Walmart bathroom considering taking his life. The reason, he explained, was that he had nothing.

No job, no home and no hope. Brown said he ended the letter by thanking them for giving him back some of what he had lost—a job and an apart-

ment with one month’s rent paid. Brown and Cianciarus agreed this man’s experience represents the “wrap around” services they strive to provide.

Brown said many of the people coming to Catholic Charities are the working poor— people who are working two or three jobs.

“Sometimes in an economy like this it’s just one little thing, it could be an unexpected car repair bill or a medical bill, and all of a sudden they’re starting on a downward spiral of having to make choices between . . . Do I keep the heat on in the winter or do I get this prescription for my child?,” Brown said. “We really try to be there. . . to say here’s how you can keep food on your table as well as keeping your utilities on.”

and bad reactions to common medical treatments for heart disease, such as beta blockers.

The second program, which received $4,173,054, is a study of using new, more detailed consent forms for patients undergoing angioplasty, a surgery in which blood vessels that are too narrow or blocked are widened.

“The goal is to create individualized consent forms that are more educational and that support evidencebased, individualized decision making for more effective, and cost-effective, care,” Spertus said.

The genetic correlation research initiative has created five new jobs in Kansas City. The consent form grant has paid a full salary for five jobs in Kansas City, a partial salary for five other Kansas Citians and six full salaries for researchers in other cities in the United States.

All photos by EdenSchoofs and DanStewart

FEATURES 18 09-20-10

‘RESIDENT’AWFUL Most recent installment in the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise is a bust TomLynch

Resident Evil gives a bad name to zombies.

From the 1968 horror classic “Night of the Living Dead,” to its 1978 sequel “Dawn of the Dead,” which inspired the more recent 2004 farce “Shaun of the Dead,” this genre has generated several masterpieces that I along with many others cherish as pieces of optimum cinema. Resident Evil: Afterlife is not one of them.

Afterlife is the fourth film in the Resident Evil series. It’s series of films that has come no closer to achieving an ounce of acclaim than those of Aaron Seltzer, director of “Epic Movie,” “Meet the Spartans” and the recent “Vampires Suck.” At least I can say that those movies made me laugh, albeit very sparingly.

The movie picks up where the third one “Resident Evil: Extinction” left us. There are dozens of Alice (Milla Jovovich) clones seeking out revenge upon the evil umbrella corporation, who created the zombie epidemic that has ravaged earth. Alice along with a band of survivors are charged with the task of fighting their way through zombie-infested Los Angeles to a freight ship populated by other survivors.

This movie is about as half-baked as they come. Alice who somewhere along the line of the previous three films gained super-powers, loses them when a bad guy strikes her with a syringe to make her a normal human again.

Thirty seconds later, she walks away from a plane crash that leaves nothing but smoldering metal behind: just like a normal human would.

I have a message for writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson: just because this is fiction, doesn’t mean everything that pops into your head can be allowed to happen. “Within any world, no matter how imaginary, only certain events are possible or probable” said the screenwriting coach Robert McKee said. And he is exactly right. Audiences around the world are sure to be frustrated with the movie’s improbability.

Not just that, but they will have seen it all before. There were so many clichés I was confident that I could walk out of the theater at

any moment and know exactly how the movie would end. And I thought about doing it many times; for some reason it felt like the movie was killing my brain cells at an alarmingly rapid pace.

But hey, some action movies can only be propelled so far by their plot, sometimes their action scenes can make paying the ever-increasing admission price completely worth it. But in this film, action is just another element that this film failed to deliver with.

Once again it all seemed all too familiar. One scene Alice jumps out a window toting her dual handguns was a complete clone of a scene from “the Matrix: Reloaded,” where Trinity performs the same feat.

The one redeeming quality that this film possesses is its soundtrack. At moments where I was about to walk right out of the theater in frustration with the cliché ridden story and stiff, emotionless acting, I could count on the fist-pump-inducing soundtrack to kick on, and for it to have me nodding my head to its gritty electronic instrumentals full of dramatic 808 drums. Unfortunately for the makers of this movie, no soundtrack can save a plotless film.

The drums were about as dramatic as it came. The characters in this movie exhibit less emotion than a Firby. At least my Firby can extract some emotion from me, even if it is anger at its constant pleas for me to feed it. In this movie there is no anger, or happiness, or sadness or anything that an audience can relate to. Name any emotion and this movie doesn’t contain a smidgeon of it.

It goes without saying the acting is awful.

That’s not to say that it is the worst I have ever seen. No, most of these actors were pretty good with fake excitement which qualifies them for a future in the business of infomercials.

Milla Jovovich sucked, but the real stand out for laughable acting goes to Shawn Roberts whose portrayal of main bad guy Albert Wesker, was a portrait of every other summeraction-blockbuster-bad-guy. The whole movie

RESIDENt EVIL

A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.

Wesker speaks in a harsh whisper that only adds to the far-fetched feel of the entire movie.

But it’s only half Shawn Roberts’ fault the other half is

Paul W.S. Anderson once again creating an unconvincing world. In one scene, when one of his henchman second-guesses the boss, Mr. Wesker pulls out a desert eagle and shoots the henchman point blank in the temple — just like every other evil boss from every other bad action movie.

This movie, may be more enjoyable to see in 3D, but it certainly wouldn’t have made up for the seen-it-all-before feeling, and phoned in performances. And if a movie has to be seen in 3D to be enjoyable it isn’t worth seeing at all — unless it’s “Piranha 3D,” that movie was totally worth the extra 5 dollars.

“Afterlife” was the dessert that makes you want to vomit up the three course meal that came before it, and judging by the teaser at the end of the credits, we’re in for some coffee. And you shouldn’t order any of it.

APOCALYPSE

EXTINCTION

After an outbreak in a top-secret facility, Umbrella ponders on covering up their mistakes by releasing the deadly Nemesis to eliminate surviving STARS members in Raccoon City.

Survivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp. www.imdb.com

STAR SCALE

STAY AT HOME

RENT IT

WORTH SEEING

OSCAR-WORTHY

MIXED

MIXED

Now that it’s Fall...

1

3

JUMP IN A PILE OF LEAVES

PICK OUT A PUMPKIN

Q. What would be the one thing you would do if you were presi-

HOW TO: catch some Zzzzs

dent for the day?

“The Textbook Technique”

When in deep a need of sleep, pull out the text book. It is the perfect cover for sleeping. The teachers will think you are studying, and really you are getting much needed rest.

“Who Cares”

You know you want to dig out the rake from your garage, and start raking a gigantic pile of leaves.

Don’t forget to take a picture and enjoy your day while doing the yard work.

Scout out the field, run around and go crazy. It is pumpkin season and you better pick the best one for carving! If you want to be adventuresome, pick the biggest one in the field.

Yes, it is that time of year, get your friends together!

Feel the cool crisp air while sitting on the comfort of hay barrels.

19

a page about life

2

TAKE A HAYRIDE

1.

issue 2

2.

For the days you really really need the rest, who cares if someone notices that you are taking a quick nap. Next time, bring a pillow, might as well get some quality sleep.

“Hoodie Time” If you own a hoodie, wear it. No one will suspect a thing. Put your hand over yout eyes and say sweet dreams.

SamanthaBartow

SHOES THAT DON’T BREAK THE BANK

am obsessed with bows.

Q. What is the best word to describe yourself?

A. Passionate. it is a nice way to explain how insane I am.

Q. What is the craziest thing you have done

recently?

I jumped on a moving car and then flew off. I A. had burns all over my body.

Q. How do you chose your clothes each day?

A. Whatever is catchy and sparkles. Pretty much what every I want.

30

SamanthaBartow

3.

A. I would make everyone wear bows! I love my bows. I

SECONDS with

sophomore Brennan Williams Deal $ Deal Deal$ $

{Cute and inexpensive}

a. $20

A

b

c

d

Von Maur b. $25 Off Broadway Shoes c. $17 Macy’s

d. $16 LinsdeyHartnett

American Eagle Outfitters

OVER

THE

TOP

Girls’ volleyball team enjoys success in winning their first two home matches

PHOTO ESSAY issue 2

21

Reaching for the ball, senior Julie Aliber works to place the volleyball over the blocker. This is Aliber’s third season on the varsity team.“I think the team is more well-rounded this year,” Aliber said. “Practice is more intense and I think Coach Salanoa expects a lot out of us.”

Talking with new assistant varsity volleyball coach Charles Cooper, senior Logan Weckbaugh, below, receives tips on how to improve her blocking game.

Passing from the back row, sophomore Ashley Allegri, below left, digs a hard hit ball from the opposing team. This season marks her first on varsity.

Junior Hayley Hansford screams as she enters the team huddle in order to get the girls excited. “You have to be intense after every point,” Hansford said. “I want to get the team pumped up for the next play.”

Junior Hayley Hansford, above, prepares to surprise the opposing team by dumping the volleyball over the net. This is a tactic used by setters to catch the blockers off guard. When done successfully, as Hansford does here, dumping the ball can lead to easy points in necessary times. all photos by GrantHeinlein

C. Jack’s Sidewalk Cafe 6937 Tomahawk Rd. In the Prairie Village Shops 384-2445 cjackscafe.com

*

Bring in THIS COUPON for a FREE COOKIE with the purchase of a sandwich, salad, wrap, or panini. one coupon per customer, per visit. Not good with any other offer.

RECYCLE YOUR HARBINGER

Comedy Combo!

Improv-Abilities is back from New York and teaming with the foursome Not A Great Gorilla for a one-night-only show!

Sept. 24 at the Lucky Brewgrille, 5401 Johnson Drive. $10 per ticket SPECIAL: $4 tickets with this coupon and student ID! (913) 971-6242 www.kcimprov.com

A&E issue2

dragons&detectives ToniAguiar

Stieg Larsson’s yellow paperback has become ubiquitous. It’s tucked into moms’ L.L. Bean totes at the pool. Its spine rests alongside the mammoth one of students’ calculus books. There are entire walls of its yellow and green swirled book cover at Target.

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” has become a phenomenon, if not in all of America, at least in Prairie Village. The allure of the books is similar to the attraction of Call of Duty for 13-year-old boys—it’s totally different from everyday life. The story tells of Mikael Blomkvist, a Swedish journalist, who is convicted of libel against a corporate giant.

He is then hired by an elderly millionaire to investigate the disappearance of the old man’s great niece forty years ago.

It would be a gross understatement to say that the book was shocking. But it doesn’t start out that way. The first few chapters are a struggle to read since they’re slow, confusing and are made even more difficult with the odd Swedish names (how the hell does one pronounce “Blomkvist” anyways?). I struggled through the first 75 pages and was terribly disappointed in it. How could a book so hyped up be as confusing and boring as AHAP summer homework?

I had no idea that two nights later I’d be staying up until 3 a.m. with the book. Larsson’s use of dramatic irony such as when you realize the murderer is alive and well-- and Blomkvist doesn’t know-- keeps you reading without resorting to cliched cliff-hangers or contrived writing. This intensity is heightened by the appearance of my favorite character, Lisbeth Salander, in the most crucial moment possible.

Even though Blomkvist is the character that the book focuses on, Salander is by far the most entertaining, mysterious and appealing character. Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo, is a world-class hacker and is hired to help Blomkvist solve the mystery.

She’s not the average thriller heroine— which makes her so much more interesting.

23

the late Stieg Larsson’s first installment of his critically acclaimed trilogy becomes widely popular among East students

Declared incompetent by the state, she has a photographic memory, short dark hair, black lipstick, a height of barely five feet and some serious social problems. After her guardian (a sort of lawyer assigned to mentally ill in Sweden to manage their lives) molests her, the revenge she takes is hardly school appropriate and reminiscent of a Tarantino movie.

The unusual setting gives it a slightly removed feel. The names are the most Swedish part of it, as well as the foreign government setup. The concept of guardianship was one I’ve never come across before in the U.S. The author does a good job of describing the January weather of Sweden. I could feel the white chill of northern Europe even at work as my thighs stuck to the green vinyl of the swivel chair at the front desk of the pool.

The Swedish-ness of it all was far from subtle in the movie version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” For one, it’s a two-and-ahalf hour exercise in the Swedish language.

The subtitles weren’t too troublesome. As a purist, I found that the movie did an excellent job of portraying the book as it was. The characters were accurate in their appearances and personalities; Salander was as hard to read as ever and Blomvkist’s affair with Erika Berger, his colleague, is portrayed fairly accurately.

It’s hard to say whether the American version of the movie, set to release in December 2011, will uphold the book’s plot and nuances. Hollywood does have a tendency to assume that the consumer’s IQ is generally significantly lower than their weight.

Unlike the book, the movie gets off to a running start at the beginning. Instead of a crawling beginning, you’re dropped into a 100-meter dash against Usain Bolt. For those who haven’t read the books already, I wish you good luck or at least someone to sit with you and explain things. Nonetheless, Noomi Rapace is spot-on in the role of Salander. Instead of wearing her heart on her sleeve, she stashes it in her sock under her foot-- far out of sight. The director adds to the mystery

of the book by hinting at the red herrings, which play a mind game with you throughout the book and the movie.

I’m proud of us Americans, branching out and reading books that aren’t by Jodi Picoult or fantasy-romance novels (you know who you are). The “Millennium” series, as it’s called, pulls the reader in until you realize that the books have you by your shirtfront and won’t let go. The movie is accurate and beautifully filmed with artistic lighting and great shots of emotion by the actors, but could never capture the suspense that comes from being immersed in a book. It’s no wonder that everyone and their grandma is obsessed with these.

It’s too bad Larsson is dead. We could use more thrillers that contain a plot that is actually suspenseful-- and appeals to both East students and elderly men without sacrificing intelligence.

[ ] about the author Stieg Larsson (1954-2004)

Passed away of heart attack in 2004 before he was named second best-selling author in the world in 2008 Trilogy sold over 200 million copies as of spring 2010

For additional video blog of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” visit smeharbinger.net www.morguefile.com

STAR SCALE

SPARK NOTE

[ ] get INKED

LIBRARY AT MOST

the final installments to the rest of the Stieg Larsson’s trilogy series

WORTH READING

This book was even more suspenseful than the first one in the series. A series of murders are committed, and Salander is suspected as the killer. The ending evolves into a thrilling cliffhanger and leaves you wanting more.

CLASSIC LITERATURE

This book makes the others look as simple as Dr. Seuss books. The plot twists endlessly and it can be hard to keep track of the characters.

Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic end to the series and proves that sequels can be as good as the original.

A&E 24 09-20-10

MOVIE

AlexLamb

FALL

WALL STREET: 9/24

PREVIEW

Cinema aficionado gives you the scoop on the hottest films coming out this season

A

fter being delayed from its April release, Oliver Stone’s sequel to his classy 1987 money game drama “Wall Street” finally hits theaters, now more socially relevant than ever.

The story centers around the recent financial crisis, as infamous corporate raider Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas, returning to his Oscar-winning role) takes up-and-coming trader Jacob Moore (Shia LeBeouf) under his wing to mentor him. Then, together, they must warn the Wall Street community of impending economic catastrophe before the stock market crashes. Stone (“Platoon,” “Natural Born Killers”) is known for making films fueled by sobering social commentary, and judging from the very positive pre-release buzz, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” should be a strong contender during awards season, as well as one of the year’s most important movies.

E

THE SOCIAL NETWORK: 10/1

very once in a while a film comes along that perfectly describes a generation. David Fincher’s “Fight Club” reached that goal with Generation X, and now it looks like Fincher will do it again, this time encapsulating the essence of the Facebook generation. And what better way to do that than with the Facebook movie? Fincher’s “The Social Network” chronicles how Harvard undergrad Mark Zuckerberg (played by the college version of Michael Cera, Jesse Eisenberg) created the most popular website on the Internet and became the world’s youngest billionaire. Fincher has already proven himself as one of this era’s greatest directors, and “The Social Network” trailer is the best one I’ve seen for any film all year. So don’t be surprised when ads for the Academy Awards start populating Facebook, because this movie has Oscars written all over its wall.

RED: 10/15

A

t first glance, “Red” looks like just another action-comedy with a famous face and some big guns. Upon closer viewing however, that face belongs to Bruce Willis, playing a retired CIA agent who must call on his old, aging team to help him stop those trying to kill him. But what “Red” has setting it apart is the all-star cast alongside Willis (John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren), superb, older actors who are purposefully slumming in a fun little action flick. From the trailer alone it’s obvious they’re having a great time as they get to wisecrack and shoot some heavy machinery. The PG-13 rating is a tad worrisome, but Mirren on a mounted machine gun and a paranoid, unpredictable Malkovich are more than entertaining enough to make up for the toned-down violence.

T

DUE DATE: 11/5

here hasn’t been a widely successful or particularly memorable full-on comedy since “The Hangover,” so thank goodness director Todd Philips and star Zach Galifianakis reconvened for this hilarious roadtrip to tide over audiences until “The Hangover 2.” Galifianakis stars as a bumbling fool with whom a soon-to-be father (Robert Downey Jr.) must hitch a ride to Los Angeles with in order to arrive at his child’s birth on time. Downey Jr.’s sardonic wit is perfectly tuned for this type of stressed-out businessman character, while Galifianakis more or less just plays Alan from “The Hangover” again. But considering he was the standout of that film, most viewers will probably be ecstatic by this. Expect nothing less than the funniest movie since “The Hangover.”

A&E

127 HOURS: 11/5

issue 2

O

scar-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle strikes again after dominating both the awards and the box office with “Slumdog Millionaire” two years ago. This time around he’s working from an inspiring, completely true story, one most people will remember because of all the attention it received in the media. Seven years ago mountain climber Aron Ralston (played by James Franco) went canyoneering by himself near Moab, Utah, but got his arm trapped under a huge rock in the middle of a canyon. All alone with no help in sight, he spent 127 hours there before finding a way out. When Aron told this tale on talk shows it was absolutely spellbinding, so under the talented, stylistic hand of Boyle, this looks to be one of the year’s most engrossing films, already guaranteed a place at the Academy Awards.

H

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART I: 11/19

arry Potter is without a doubt one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the 21st century, so with this first half of the last and arguably best book, expectations are high for a truly epic finale to a series this generation has grown up loving. With Voldemort controlling Hogwarts and the whole wizarding world going to hell, it’s up to Harry, Ron and Hermione to find the rest of the horcruxes in order to defeat him. But this is no easy task, and the last installment is known for having tons of exhilarating set pieces as well as lots of deaths before reaching the final showdown. So start preparing your wizard outfit now, because if ever there was a premiere to dress up for and see at midnight, this worldwide event is the one.

D

BLACK SWAN: 12/1

TRON: LEGACY: 12/17

irector Darren Aronofsky has crafted several of the most intimate and intense character-driven pieces of recent years — “Requiem for a Dream” will change your life — and as a follow up to his powerful “The Wrestler,” he now presents the nightmarish psychological thriller “Black Swan.” Natalie Portman plays Nina, a devoted ballerina and the star of her New York dance company. But when a new dancer (Mila Kunis) threatens her spot as the lead in the company’s production of “Swan Lake,” they develop a friendship-rivalry as Nina deliriously spins out of control and starts losing her grip on reality. Festival buzz for this movie is through the roof, and Aronofsky could finally receive his rightful recognition from the Academy. Don’t let the ballerina setting fool you, “Black Swan” will be one of 2010’s craziest, most mesmerizing head trips.

allmoviephotos.com, movieweb.com, celebritywonder.com

B

ack in 1982, the original “TRON” wowed audiences with its incredible special effects and futuristic story and look.

Today, it seems like little more than a dated classic of nostalgia. But “TRON: Legacy” updates this universe to make it just as cool for audiences today as it was for those 28 years ago.

Jeff Bridges reprises his glorious role of Kevin Flynn, who’s been in the TRON world since the original movie, and brings in his now grown up son Sam (Garrett Hedlund). Together they explore the fascinating cyber land as they embark on a dangerous journey across it. Along the way, they encounter plenty of gladiatorial matches and, what TRON is famous for, the cycle battles. Just take a look at the trailer for a glimpse of the breathtakingly awesome effects and profound visual style, which are sure to make it this year’s “Avatar.”

25

a&e 26 09-20-10

Edibleart ErinReilly

Nestled in between Accurso’s and Spin! Pizza is famed chocolatier Christopher Elbow’s newest venture: Glacé Artisan Ice Cream. As a relatively small shop, it would be easily missed were it not for the huge line snaking out the front door.

Located just outside the action on the Country Club Plaza, it’s situated on Main Street a block from the Plaza Library, and is an interesting change of pace from your standard ice cream parlor.

With customers flocking to its doors in huge numbers, it’s obvious that this is quickly becoming one of the Plaza’s hot spots. However, be warned — Glacé is known for its eclectic flavors, as anyone who’s glanced at their menu could tell you, and is not for the faint of heart. With a menu filled with interesting takes on traditional flavors (Venezuelan Dark Chocolate and Vanilla Bean), many patrons come for the famed ice cream oddities Elbow personally designed, including Farmer Bob’s Sweet Corn, Salty Pretzel, Blueberry Cream Cheese, and Thai Peanut Curry.

Before visiting this establishment, I read reviews to see how other people enjoyed Glacé. The critics praised again and again how much the ice cream tasted like the proposed flavor, but it wasn’t enough to prepare me for how shrewdly the flavors were replicated when I sampled them. I’m the kind of person who likes food to taste like it’s named, and this place blew me out of the water in that respect.

Glacé is definitely the Bertie Every Flavour Beans equivalent of ice cream. Glacé offers 24 flavors at a time, and according to a Glacé employee, Elbow works on new flavors every week, substituting three to four new flavors into the menu at a time. The online menu is updated accordingly with the parlor’s menu.

During my visit, I sampled the French Lavender and Goat Cheese with Honey, the two most popular flavors among reviewers online. I was pleasantly surprised with the French Lavender, which upon my first bite overpowered me with its spices, replicating the intense scent of the plant, but then it softened into a delightfully creamy flavor. The Goat Cheese

all photos by AnnaMarken

STAR SCALE

CHECK PLEASE

Owner Christopher Elbow uses his artistic flair to create unique flavors of ice cream

with Honey, while delicious and creamy, didn’t really stand out from the pack like the reviewers had promised. Still, undeterred, I tried some of the more outrageous flavors. Farmer Bob’s Sweet Corn was disgusting; it really does taste like corn, and I was not a fan. Salty Pretzel, intimidating by name, was the perfect mix of sweet and subtle, and while it didn’t really taste like a pretzel (thank goodness), the idea was met perfectly. The newly featured Kurlbaum’s Yellow Tomatoes flavor, while I didn’t try it, was quickly devoured by the little boy in front of me, who assured his mom that it was the strangest thing he’d ever tasted.

You can enjoy all 24 flavors and more, if you’re willing to pay the price ($4-5) and wait in line. Most nights, the wait is about 15-20 minutes, but the waits are rumored to be around 45 minutes on weekends, in which case customers usually lounge in the outside eating area while they wait. I went on a weekday night and lucked out, with the line only being about 20 minutes long.

The “artisan” aspect of the parlor’s title is featured not solely in the ice cream, but also in the decor. In an attempt at a modern theme, the chrome tables and chairs cram against the walls, and with concrete floors and a cool color scheme, the environment is one that makes you grab for your jacket.

However, the cold atmosphere didn’t seem to deter people from standing in line, anticipating their latest flavor endeavor.

While I enjoyed certain flavors of the ice cream immensely, there were some drawbacks to choosing Glacé. First of all, if you don’t get a parking spot on the street, you have to park in the CVS lot a block away--very inconvenient. Also, if there’s one thing you don’t want in a small space, it’s lots of noise.

Combine the humming of the freezers and mixed prattle of customers echoing in a small space, you get a collaboration of sound even Elbow couldn’t have concocted.

If you’re looking for something new and adventurous, I highly recommend paying a visit to Glacé. With a fabulous staff, impeccable flavors and a commendable reputation, you’re sure to have an unique experience.

AVERAGE

Flavors of the Trade

FLAVOR PB&J “PB&J because its a very unexpected flavor. Its a good mix between sweet and sour.”

JuniorCarolynWelter

Bananas Foster Blood Orange Sorbet FLAVOR Blueberry Cream Cheese VIETNAMESE CINNAMON Candied Ginger “I’ve never had the Caramelized Peach same flavor twice Chocolate Sorbet but so far my favorite Coconut Sorbet has been Vietnamese Crème Fraiche Cinnamon. I love ice Farmer Bob’s Sweet Corn icream and cinnamon Caramel but the combination is so unique and perfect French Lavender for me.”

Fresh Mint Chip JuniorLibbyWooldridge Goat Cheese with Honey Lemon Sorbet FLAVOR Passion Fruit Sorbet BLUEBERRY CREAM Pecan Caramel CHEESE Raspberry Sorbet “I understand Raspberry White Chocolate Flake it sounds Salted Pretzel absolutely Strawberry Balsamic disgusting but Thai Peanut Curry it’s delicious.

They’re just so Vanilla Bean good and fresh.”

Venezuelan Dark Chocolate SeniorHanna Venezuelan Spiced Chocolate

DELIGHTFUL

JaneStradinger

FLAVOR SALTY PRETZEL “I like salted pretzel because it is so different from any other flavor and I love the combination of sweet and salty mixed JuniorEllieJones together.”

CULINARY GENIUS

A&E

issue 2

27

Welcome to foursquare

Your map to Shawnee Mission East’s latest social-networking craze KatyWesthoff Senior In the beginning, there was Xanga. With middle school came Junior the MySpace migration, and then was the great exodus to FaceDavid Frizzell book. From the extinct Friendster to the ever-chirping Twitter, Lizzy McConnell Senior David Frizzell signed up for his social networking websites make up a bulk of the time teenagers spend online.

Foursquare, the latest popular evolution in the social networking chronology, gained popularity in the East area during the summer months. The idea is to “check in” to different places, from school to Peachwave and everywhere in between, using a mobile phone. The Web site keeps track of who checks in, when they do, and how many times. Users can add their friends, Facebook-style, and keep track of everyone’s movements and mayorships. The simply-designed site and the handy app makes it versatile with any phone capable of Internet access. And for those incapable, users can text their location updates, much like Twitter.

East is a perfect breeding ground for the site’s popularity. Smart phones feed the site, and they aren’t hard to come by at Shawnee Mission Wonderful. Upperclassmen are the primary users, as they have the ability to drive and pick their destinies, as far as freedom of location is concerned.

Some call it creepy. Others call it revolutionary. In any case, the ever-growing Foursquare has something for everyone, like being suggested a delectable dish while traveling or winning the Adventurer badge for your tenth check-in. And unlike Friendster, Foursquare’s popularity assures that it isn’t going anywhere soon.

Users a guide to the destinations of foursquare

Definitions

user with the most nummayor :the ber of check-ins of a particu-

lar place in a 60-day period The mayorship of venues is the true competitive element of Foursquare. While some places give prizes to their mayors, the real value comes in bragging rights.

Of course, most of Foursquare’s value comes in self-indulgent bragging rights.

But being mayor: that’s something to be proud of. One can only hope the mayor is the mayor of the mayor’s office.

for different check-in badge:rewards habits, featured on a user’s profile There are the easily attained badges, like the “Newbie” badge achieved with a first check-in, and there are the more obscure badges, from the HBO Nightlife badge, only attainable by checking into four “UrbanDaddy-approved” spots, or the Super Swarm badge, which requires 250 or more people to check-in to the same place.

pointers for differtips:user-submitted ent venues Rather than bragging about your badge count or competing for the mayorship of Starbucks, here’s something useful for other people. Users can add their quips of wisdom and their words of wit for various venues. Advice about the best pizza toppings or avoiding the third stall from the left in the boy’s bathroom can make a better experience for anyone in the venue.

a guide to the lingo of foursquare

a guide to the people of foursquare

Foursquare account in May 2010, under the guidance of an addicted friend.

“I thought it’d be fun and interesting to learn about new places where my friends are,” Frizzell said.

Frizzell likes to take advantage of the tips people put on Foursquare, keeping his eye on the best meals people advise or anything to enrich his outings.

“I’ve only left a couple tips myself,” he said, “but I love reading what other people have to say.”

Frizzell has collected 23 badges and is most proud of his Super Swarm badge: one that can only be attained in big cities. He got his in Chicago at Lollapalooza.

Junior Lizzy McConnell is the proud owner of seven mayorships and 15 badges. McConnell started Foursquaring in the beginning of summer and has been on a personal quest to get as many badges as possible.

“I actually quit recently,” McConnell said.

“It became a job, and I got everything possible to get.”

After Google searching for all the badges available, she started looking for ones she could achieve.

“There was one I could get for checking into five different Starbucks,” she said. “So I did.”

Though Foursquare’s main purpose is to check up with your friends’ check-ins, McConnell found much more joy in going after badges. It was just a game to her, and after she got all the badges she could, it was time to stop.

“If they added more badges for this area, I’d probably go after them for the challenge,” McConnell said.

Places The J-Room

{at sm east} Dan Zollar’s Auditorium

Foley’s Fun House Mr. Nickels’ Room

GrantKendall

SPORTS 28 09-20-10

H

JuliaDavis

is eyes slowly read down the list of 21 names. When they reached the bottom, he scanned back up the list one more time, looking for his name anywhere.

Still not seeing it, he turned off the computer and went to bed. Junior Sean Luenz was officially cut from the JV soccer team, but other than an initial feeling of surprise, he didn’t experience the shame or grief that often accompanies getting cut from a team. He had an alternative that was just as good.

Luenz planned on trying out to be kicker of the football team. He had never played a day of football in his life, but that didn’t matter. The next day, he went to head coach Chip Sherman with the idea. Sherman told Luenz that the JV team needed a kicker, and gave Luenz the weekend to decide if being kicker was what he really wanted. By practice on Monday, Luenz was warming up with the team.

Being a kicker had always been in the back of Luenz’s mind during his soccer career. He started playing around the age of five with recreational teams, and continued on into high school, playing on C team both freshman and sophomore years at East. After being cut this year, Luenz knew the time was right.

“It’s always kind of been my back-up plan,” Luenz said. He got the idea that being a kicker was an attainable goal while watching college football.

“They show the bios for the college kickers and it always says soccer player or former soccer player and I just thought, ‘I could probably do that.’”

Soccer coach Jamie Kelly fully supported Luenz’s idea to tryout for football.

“I always encourage the boys to, if they’re not asked to be a part of the soccer program, still get involved and do something to help out the school,” Kelly said. “I think that’s great that he chose to go do football and that he’s still kicking.”

Luenz is now the full-time JV kicker, and back-up varsity kicker to senior Chase Woofter, who has been kicking since elementary school. Woofter believes that so far, Luenz is taking to the transition well.

“He’s doing pretty well,” Woofter said. “Football and soccer are pretty similar, so it’s not too hard of a transition.”

Despite the fact that he’s with a new team, Luenz is still on the turf he knows, still playing with his feet, and even the practices are similar. As kicker, he stretches, warms up and kicks over and over again on most days.

“With a kicker, there’s a lot of times at practice where he’s off on his own, so he’s got to be disciplined enough to just keep working on something even though he’s all by himself,” JV football coach Jason Filbeck said. “There’s that accountability aspect to it.”

This routine is key to making every field goal, every extra point.

“The short field goals and extra points should be almost automatic once you get good at it,” Luenz said.

A missed field goal or extra point can be game-changing, and often is, so practicing them every day is an essential part of training. Luenz thinks of it like a penalty kick in soccer. You get one try, one opportunity to get a goal, and that’s it.

The prospect of failing a kick is one of the essential differences that Luenz finds between soccer and football.

“If you have a bad opening kickoff or something, you have to wait a long time before you can make up for it,” Luenz said.

His technique to tackle the enormous pressure that comes with each kick to just not think, and get it over with.

“As soon as the ball is snapped I just start going. I don’t think about it, because the less you think about it the better you do,” Luenz said. “If you over think it, you’ll shank it.”

One of the reasons Luenz has had so much success in both soccer and football is his work ethic. Athletic director Jim Ricker has known Luenz since he was in 8th grade at Mission

Valley. Ricker, the intramurals director at the time, remembers Luenz for his enthusiastic attitude.

“He showed up to everything I did intramurals wise, and was always a hard worker, always had a smile on his face, and always wanted to be there,” Ricker said.

Before Luenz had even mentioned trying out for kicker, he was already getting the attention of the summer weights coaches for his dedication.

“Even the football coaches, before tryouts this year, were talking about how he was the one kid that showed up every day to weight training, and did everything they were doing,” Ricker said.

Because of this dedication, Luenz’s transition from soccer to football has been a smooth one. He has already kicked in one game with the JV team as of Sept. 15, and despite both ups and downs, he is finding his place on the team.

The JV squad currently stands at 0-1 as of Sept. 15, and they hope to have a successful season with the help of Luenz at the kicker spot.

Next year, Luenz plans on trying out for soccer again, but if that doesn’t work out he has football to fall back on. Throughout the transition in sports, Luenz’s thoughts on kicking have evolved.

“I certainly have a lot more respect for the kicker,” Luenz said. “It’s a lot harder than everybody thinks.”

Luenz is still in the process of transferring the skills he had on the soccer field to the football field. Kicking a football is completely different from kicking a soccer ball, and Luenz is adapting everyday.

“A lot of people think if you can play soccer, you can automatically kick a football, and you do have to learn some finer points to it, but he’s doing fine,” says Filbeck. “He’s come a long way.”

a different KICK

Luenz explains the technique differences between soccer and football

The biggest difference is the follow through. With a soccer ball, you curve it by bringing your leg across. Football, you just kick it straight through.

I use the soccer approach for football. For extra points and field goals, it’s three steps back and two to the left.

Extra points matter more than free kicks (in soccer).

You’re supposed to make them.

´ FUTBOL FOOTBALL from to

After being cut from soccer, junior kicker hits the gridiron

DanStewart

For a photo album of Luenz in action, visit smeharbinger.net

SPORTS issue 2

29

PIC. of Seniors on the field, all juggling a soccer ball. It will look kewl.

SENIORITYon the field CorbinBarnds

When the starter’s time came for their first game of the season, the group gathered at the center of the field in their pre-kickoff huddle. For the 10 other starters, senior Captain Cam Smith brought to the squad’s attention what they had all been focusing during the offseason; during every wind-sprint, during every cleat they had taken to the shin, during every cramp they couldn’t shake from their leg.

This would be their last chance to leave their mark.

“This is the last time we will face this team, make them remember us,” Smith said.

The Lancers went on to win that game 2-0 against Blue Valley High School, a team that is capable of making a run at state. Led by the most seniors in school history,17, East believes that they too are primed for a shot at state.

Flash-back four years to the first week of school and these 17 seniors were barely recognizable.

Not only was this their first week of high school, but it was also Jamie Kelly’s first season as head soccer coach. Though it was only his first season at the school, he had already developed his eye for talent and he could see that behind this group of shy, intimidated, and undeveloped freshman lay a special class.

“When I saw them all together as freshman, I thought ‘you know what, we have the potential to do something great when they are all juniors or seniors. You just never know what is going to happen,” Kelly said.

That first week of practice years ago laid the groundwork for to-

day’s team. Out of the 10 senior starters, nine of them made Junior varsity as a freshman. For the next four years the group remained together, playing on the same team whether it be JV or varsity, an anomaly for the East Soccer program.

“Normally there is only a couple freshmen on JV but since we had nine, it was kind of a big deal,” senior captain Zach Colby said. “We were all so pumped that so many of us made the team, and we had a bunch of friends on our team. We were all still somewhat scared of high school at that point, so having this team got us through that.”

The core group of players continued making strides, when as sophomores they had a defining moment. On the second day of practice, the JV squad scrimmaged the varsity and won 2-1. Although it was just practice, it gave that group an idea of what they were capable of.

“We were all thinking ‘wow we can really be good if we all put our minds to it, we can do big things if we work hard and stick together as a team,” Smith said.

Now as seniors, the three captains of the team all came from that squad with roots from Freshman year.

“When they were all freshman, I was thinking to myself ‘holy cow this could be my varsity one day and they all are really small,” Kelly said. “But obviously throughout the years they have gotten bigger, faster, stronger. ” To an average fan, you could never tell that this group of se-

Mission North SEPTEMBER 21 Shawnee7:00 pm

niors was composed of all different types of personalities from all different friends groups; in a way this team is like a melting pot, and Kelly wouldn’t want it any other way.

They have chemistry- a necessity for for any Kelly-coached team.

This team knows how to bond off the field as well, be it playing games of dodgeball or massive halo tournaments. But when they get to practice, they know when to work hard and focus. According to Colby, last season the players became somewhat complacent and took what they had for granted, something that they won’t let happen this season.

With a bulk of the seniors having played together for the past three years, the players have gotten to know each other’s tendencies almost as well as their own.

This skill goes hand in hand with the way the Lancers will communicate which will undoubtedly be one of the team’s strengths.

Although the chemistry is strong Coach Kelly has been preaching to the players that the one downfall of this team could be if one player tries to take the spotlight and do too much.

“With this many seniors, it would be very easy for somebody to be like ‘I want to be the leading goal scorer, or I want to be the best defender so I’m going to do my own thing or try to be the best mid-fielder’,” Kelly said. “And it would be easy for some guy to look for themselves to try and to do too much; because being all seniors they all want to be leaders but they need to be leaders also.”

The one difference between

upandcoming

photos

by DanStewart Senior soccer players pose before their gameallverse Olathe East. The team has a record 17 seniors this year, 9 returning. DanStewart

record number of seniors on this year’s varsity team provides strong leadership

this team and many of Kelly’s past teams is bench depth. With talented non-starters, it won’t matter when the starters come out of the game, it doesn’t mean that the talent has left the field; the guys on the bench come back with an almost equal attack.

When this team played against Olathe East, the number 5 ranked team in the state at the time, they put together the perfect game. The seniors showed the potential they have as a team winning 1-0.

“From beginning to end, in all of my years here at East I have never seen a team play that well as a team and play that hard as a team for each other,” Kelly said. “I have never seen a Shawnee Mission East soccer team do that. It was so much fun to watch.”

Scoring goals will be a strength for the team this season but what may pose as a problem farther down the road may be defense.

Although they return their goalie, the defense could end up making the difference for this team between being a state champion and a state quarter finalist.

“I think that’s going to be the focus this year, we want to make sure everyone has a lasting impression of Shawnee Mission East soccer,” Smith said. “For senior guys, it’s just a countdown of your last games, it’s your 16th to last game, it’s your 15th to last game. I think it’s going to make people more passionate and make people play as hard as they can and not take a day off.”

7 13

3 6 14 10

4

5 9

2 0

theline-up

0 Chris Melvin: Goalie 4 CC Creidenberg: Defense 9 Cameron Smith: Defense 2 Cooper Toombs: Defense 5 Lauren Jamieson: Midfield 14 Tyler Rathbun: Midfield 6 Adam Isenberg: Midfield 10 Lucas Throckmorton: Midfield 13 Spencer Jarrold: Midfield 3 Zach Colby: Forward 7 Andrew Goble: Forward

For live game broadcasts with commentary, player and fan interviews interviews and more, visit smeharbinger.net

North Mission South West South 7:00 pm pm pm 7:00 pm 23 Olathe 25 Shawnee3:00 28 Shawnee7:00Mission 30 Olathe

30

A

SPORTS

09-20-10 MattGannon

s the sun peaks through the cloud-filled sky on As the sun peaks through the cloud-filled sky on a warm Saturday morning, runners begin to emerge from the woods, one by one. A cow-bell clangs constantly, as the leader, junior Mitch Daniel, climbs the hill and lunges towards the finish. He’s the first of the six juniors to make varsity--the fastest 10 on the team. When time trials were finally over, only two seniors had made the varsity list.

Seniors are often the dominating force--the leaders and captains that drive the team--and cross country was never any different. Last year’s team was built upon senior leaders like Jay Lehoczky, David Beeder and William Carey.

So when the team of nearly 300 gathered before practice, on the hill between the tennis courts and football field, with shoes dangling from the tree above them, many expected that coach Tricia Beaham would be giving the captain positions to the eldest runners--the seniors.

She read the names one by one. “Mitch Daniel, Evan Nichols, Reid Frye, Adam Simmons and Jack Howland.”

All the captains were juniors.

“They are the core of this team,” Beaham said. “They not only displayed leadership during races, but also in practice and during stretches. It’s a unique experience, and it truly shows our team can only get stronger.”

The group of senior boys just stared at each other blankly.

“I was surprised,” senior Burke Smith said. “And yeah, I was upset at first, but the coaches’ decision was the right decision.

We have good coaches, and they know what they are doing.”

Smith joined the cross country team as a sophomore, looking to do nothing more than stay in shape. He joined the team at the same time as many other seniors such as Graham Redelsheimer.

“I did cross country because a lot my friends wanted to do it,” Redelsheimer said. “Cross country gives you such a great feeling of camaraderie and there is a lot of tradition.”

Redelsheimer wasn’t very surprised by the captain choices, and he felt that the coaches had picked the fastest kids to captain.

“I actually like [being one of the few seniors on the team] because we are a small group and we all get to know each other pretty well,” Redelsheimer said.

The only two seniors on the varsity squad, Thomas Read and David Hill, both joined the team their junior year. Hill left the football team because of his love for running; he has been known to run everywhere he goes. During the summer, Hill ran from his house to Porter Park, where the team met for runs every Monday through Thursday. The team would often run four miles or more each day. After the vigorous workout, Hill would then run up to East for weight training.

“This year things are definitely a lot more competitive,” Hill said. “Running is my passion and I really wanted to make varsity this year.”

Thomas Read had been running long distance track for Beaham since his freshman year, and she had asked him multiple times to join cross country, even though he had played soccer for the past two years. He had to make a choice.

He decided to hang up his cleats when he realized he was destined to be a runner, not a soccer star.

“Cross country is the quintessence of my being,” Read said.

“I realized that I was a lot better at running than I was at soccer.”

A few seniors, such as Redelsheimer, have been asked by Beaham, to step up and help the weaker runners through activities such as stretching and teaching the course.

“The seniors’ guidance can really be seen on race day, when

they lead the underclassmen through the courses,” Beaham said. “A few have stepped up as leaders when we stretch, and they are good at helping the younger members prepare.”

The top seniors realize that this is their last chance to prove themselves, and want to leave the team on a strong note.

“I really screwed around sophomore year, and I never took any of it seriously,” Smith said. “My junior year I started to work, when I realized I could actually do well on this team.

Now this year, I’ve learned that I can work hard every practice and still have a fun time when Friday rolls around.”

Every Friday the team does a pre-meet run, when all of the boys leave East as a single unit and run as a team. The run is a tradition, passed down through the years with the seniors leading the pack. It’s the highlight of their practice week and a big reason why they have run on the team for years and have worked hard every week. As they take off up Mission Road, the seniors know that they have earned the right to lead.

Through traditions like leading the pre-meet and hosting the pasta-stuffing carbo-loads, the seniors still play a large role on the team, despite their lack of superior runners. While many were surprised that no senior was announced as a captain, they have learned trust their younger captains. Hill and Read have aspirations of being on the state team, but many of them dream only of breaking their personal records, and passing on the traditions to the next generations.

“To not have the label of captain, doesn’t mean that the seniors aren’t significant,” Beaham said. “Seniors have a lot on their plate, and for them to push themselves [into the top 20] takes a lot of work. Instead of slacking, there are a few that have really reacted to the captain choices positively, and used that to as motivation to not only run faster, but also become better leaders. In my mind, those gentlemen are captains.”

Outnumbered Upperclass cross country seniors adapt to new junior captains

SamanthaBartow

5

SPORTS issue 2

31

things you should know

Get to know Lucas Throckmorton

If you have gone to one soccer game this season, chances are you have witnessed the magic of senior Lucas Throckmorton. Scoring a clutch goal against Olathe East, Throckmorton proved that he can do it all. From slicing through an array of defenders to finishing a perfect header for a goal, Throckmorton could be one of the best East soccer products in years.

Football is for real this season

FOOTBALL VS. OLATHE NORTH

THIS FRIDAY AT OLATHE DISTRICT ATHLETIC COMPLEX GrantHeinlein When the Lancers walk in to ODAC for the first time since last year’s seasonending playoff loss, they will be a completely different team. The Lancers had four wins going in to that game, a win total they could possibly double this season. The Lancers will be going up against the frontrunner for the state title, but Olathe North will not be overlooking these Lancers. Olathe North features an offense that solely uses the run; they only had 30 passing yards after their first two games. Although the Lancers may know what is coming, stopping either one of the Eagles’ ball carriers, one of which is KU commit Victor Simmons and the other is state track champion Adonis Saunders, will be a task. This game is going to come down to how well East can get off of their blocks on the defensive line; if they can, an upset could be brewing at ODAC.

Head coach Chip Sherman knew there would be high expectations, and the Lancers have lived up to the hype thus far. During their 2-0 start (as of Sept. 15), the Lancers haven’t been squeaking out wins but rather annihilating their competition. The defense has proven to be one of the best rushing defenses in the metro and has been able to create turnovers. The wild card going in to the season was unquestionably the offense, but they have been able to air the ball out like no East offense ever has and if they get the running game rolling, they could be dangerous.

Get to know John Schrock

After two games, senior John Schrock is leading the Sunflower League in passing by almost 300 yards. Schrock against Lawrence threw for 385 yards with three touchdowns and one rushing score. If Schrock can continue to produce big numbers, he will be in the hunt to make the all-state team.

Volleyball will continue to win

Although, they are breaking in a new head coach, the volleyball team’s success will continue throughout Rosacarla Salanoa’s tenure here. This year’s team may not be quite as talented as last year’s, but they play much more like a team, enabling them to put a lot of points on the board.

Get to know Mimi Fotopolous

The 50th ranked junior in the nation, acording to tennisrecruiting.net, has been leading the Lancers for the past two seasons and has continued to do so throughout this season. For the Lancers to win state, Fotopolous must be able to beat Blue Valley West’s Alecia Kauss, who beat Fotopolous in last year’s state champ.

OUR SAYthe sports panel EdenSchoofs

Fall Sports Stud

John Schrock

Corbin Barnds

Schrock’s onslaught of Lawrence’s pass defense will be a sign of things to come.

Mitch Daniel

Matt Gannon

After leading the varsity team to a big win at Topeka West Invitationals, Daniel looks to bring recognition to XC.

Anne Willman

Kevin Simpson

DanStewart

the SCOREBOARD keeping you up to date on East athletics BOYS’ SOCCER

2-2

Won 1-0 vs. Olathe East. Next game is tomorrow vs. SM North

CROSS COUNTRY

Boys and girls won in Topeka. Next meet is Saturday at Rim Rock

GYMNASTICS

Competed at the SME Quad. Next meet is this Thursday at the SM South Quad

VOLLEYBALL

5-0 (not including tournaments)

Went 2-1 at East Quad. Next game is this Thursday at the ONW Quad

GIRLS’ TENNIS

Won districts. Next match is today vs. Olathe North

GIRLS GOLF

Placed third at the Free State Invite. Next tournament is today at Sion

FBall vs. Olathe North

ON, 24-14

The Lancers will make will make this a very competitive game but North’s speed is too much.

ON, 21-14

North’s running game will be tough to handle, and East’s strong start will come to an end.

ON, 24-21

Already with a victory and Ufford’s defense will keep another top five finish under them in the game, but in the her belt, Willman will look to end, there will be no answer defend her league title this month. for RB Adonis Saunders.

Over/ Under: One State Championship

Under

Although soccer, football and tennis will all come close, none will be be able to top the state.

Push

Fotopoulos and the girls’ tennis team will pull off a big upset to regain the state title.

Under

Though there will be no state titles, there will be several teams advancing deep into the postseason.

*as of Sept. 15th

Soccer vs. SM South

SME, 2-0

Playing at the Wizards stadium, the Lancers won’t overlook the Raiders.

SME 1-0

In a tight game, the boys will find a way to knock off South, thanks to the senior leadership.

SME, 2-1

Coach Kelly’s squad will be hungry for revenge after last season’s 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Raiders.

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PHOTO ESSAY 09-20-10

PREPPED

FOR PEP

The East cheerleaders prepared the Little Lancers for the football game last Thursday

Rallying a group of young cheerleaders, senior Kendall Kohnle, above left, yells to get the girls’ attention. “I had a blast, I loved the little girls!” Kohnle said. “They are so funny and they just want to do their best.” She continued to enjoy herself throughout the day and felt that she reached the ultimate goal: inspiring younger girls to take on a hobby that she loves.

DanStewart Senior Allie Hunter, above, chants as she leads the clinic in cheers and jumps: “Lancer, Lancers, S-M-East!” The objective of the camp is to teach the girls the motions and yells that the East cheerleaders routinely use.

DanStewart Senior Kristen Fischer, below, plays with a cheerleader participating in the clinic. “My favorite part is playing with the little girls, and getting to know them,” Fischer said. “I really liked getting to know the older girls, too.” Fischer continued to coach as well as have fun throughout the remainder of the day camp.

LindseyHartnett

Above, junior Makenzie Nesselhuf makes silly faces with one of the young attendees during the event. One hundred forty-nine enthusiastic girls attended the clinic, raising over $3,000 for the Shawnee Mission East cheer program. DanStewart Freshman Jessica Mier, middle, quiets one of the girls as the Lancer leaders go through their cheers. The clinic lasted four hours and the little Lancers found it hard to concentrate. Cheerleaders worked hard to make the clinic fun, but also to keep them focused.

LindseyHartnett